A Piano Pedagogy for Late Beginners:
Taking Adolescent Beginners as an Example

Qing Yang
A Doctoral Dissertation

Submitted to the Elisabeth University of Musicin partial fulfilment of the requirements forthe degree of Doctor of Musical Arts

February 2022

Acknowledgements
My deepest gratitude foremost to my two supervisors, Professor Dr. Chieko
Mibu and Professor Miho Shibata, for their constant encouragement andguidance. Professor Chieko has walked me through all the stages of finishing
this dissertation. She led me into the world of researchers and took me toparticipate in many academic presentations both here and abroad. Professor
Miho has brought me to the ocean of music, learned a lot of the true meaning ofmusic, and made me deeply understand the piano’s spirit.
Special thanks should go to Professor Martin Hughes, who inspired me to
explore the Western piano methods, and from him, I realised the pianist could
sing by his soul. Also, I would like to thank my friend Benjamin Stringer, an
American pianist, for helping with my English. I would like to also thank all theschool faculty members for their help and support in the past four years.
Finally, I am sincerely grateful to my mother who has always supported andencouraged me. Thank you. Meanwhile, I must thank my other two teachers,
Professor Dr. Wen Wang and Dr. Xiaoqin Yang in Sichuan Conservatory ofMusic, for their help in my music study.

iAbstract

In contemporary China, in addition to the children and young adults
pursuing musical education, many adolescents are also confronted with studying
music because of China’s growing social-education culture, which encourages
them to get knowledge and skills related to the arts. Moreover, China’s college
entrance examination-supported score policy leads many adolescents seeking a
spot in China’s best comprehensive universities to try to take their examinations
as art speciality students. Furthermore, art grade examination in China is more
and more popular nowadays. It has become a kind of social phenomenon thatmany students seek to pass the examination and acquire a certificate to be morecompetitive in extracurricular classes. For the reasons above, the number of latepiano beginners is increasing significantly, and they are seeking specialised
education, exceptional instructors, and effective pedagogies. The backgroundabove is discussed in Chapter I.

The purpose of the research is to explore effective piano methodologies andscientific teaching strategies for adolescent beginners. Regarding this research’s
methods, several dimensions have been included. First, Chapter II reviews thephysiological and several psychological characteristics of adolescents, which
include the following aspects: hand bones, muscle strength, flexibility, motor
skills, proprioception, and psychological characteristics. Then, to understandiiadolescent beginners better, questionnaires completed by both students andinstructors in Chapter III. From survey, the problems arising from genderdifferences and the difficulties faced by adolescent beginners playing the piano
can be observed. The result shows that age and gender differences affect piano
learning, and physiological development significantly impacts adolescent
beginners. Next, in Chapter IV, the contents of piano pedagogy and method
books from the past three centuries are carefully examined chronologically to
extract practical proposals for adolescent beginners. It reveals that learning themusic theory, body coordination and relaxation first is vital for adolescent
beginners. This is consistent with the results of the previous two chapters.
Finally, the scientificity of piano performance postures from the aforementioned
references is verified via contemporary physical and physiological theories in
Chapter V. Simultaneously, practical methods for studying scales, arpeggios,
finger independence, and body relaxation and coordination are also provided.

As scientific methods are and should be the trend in piano education
development, my research aims to help instructors teach students with scientificconcepts and to help students practise effectively to enter the music worldsmoothly and enjoy the fun of music.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………iAbstract……………………………………………………………………...ii
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………. iv
List of Tables…………………………………………………………………...vi
List of Figures…………………………………………………………………viii
List of Graphs……………………………………………………………………x
List of Examples………………………………………………………………. xii
Chapter I: Introduction………………………………………………………….1
1.1 The Background of The Research…………………………………1
1.2 The Purpose and Methods………………………………………...11
Chapter II: Physiological Characteristics of Adolescent Beginners………….16
2.1 Hand Skeleton…………………………………………………….19
2.2 Muscle Strength………………………………………………….23
2.3 Flexibility…………………………………………………………27
2.4 Motor Skill……………………………………………………….32
2.5 Proprioception…………………………………………………….36
2.6 Psychological Characteristics……………………………………40
Chapter III: The Practical Surveys on Piano Learners and Instructors……….46
3.1 On Piano Learners……………………………………………….46
3.1.1 2018 Questionnaire………………………………………...46iv

3.1.2 2019 Questionnaire………………………………………...56
3.2 On Instructors…………………………………………………….81
3.3 Piano Lesson Audit Report………………………………………97
Chapter IV: Piano Methods and Pedagogies for Adolescent Beginners in the
Past Three Centuries………………………………………………………….105
4.1 During the 18th Century………………………………………...109
4.2 During the 19th Century………………………………………...117
4.3 During the 20th Century………………………………………...173
Chapter V: The Piano Pedagogy for Adolescent Beginners…………………206
5.1 Posture………………………………………………………….207
5.2 Coordination and Relaxation…………………………………...235
5.3 On Music………………………………………………………...252
5.4 On Techniques………………………………………………….262
5.4.1 Scale……………………………………………………….263
5.4.2 Arpeggio………………………………………………….278
5.4.3 Finger Independence……………………………………...286
5.5 Conclusion and Supplements…………………………………...296
Chapter VI: Conclusion………………………………………………………306
Bibliography………………………………………………………………….313v

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Physical and physiological developments in adolescents………………18
Table 2.2 Hand Bone Development by Age and Gender……………………….20
Table 3.1 Number of respondents……………………….………………………47
Table 3.2 The age of respondents……………………………………………….48
Table 3.3 Average daily practice time………………………………………...54
Table 3.4 The difficulties for piano students…………………………………67
Table 3.5 Average daily practice time………………………………………...68
Table 3.6 Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis of the students who start
piano before age ten……………………...………………………72
Table 3.7 Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis of the students who start
piano after age ten……………………………………………...73
Table 3.8 The difficulties for piano students…………………………………79
Table 3.9 Average daily practice time………………………………………...79
Table 3.10 The information about the students………………………………98
Table 4.1 The summary of the 18th century’s methods……………………...116
Table 4.2 The works that Chopin recommended his students to study………...136
Table 4.3 The summary of the 19th century’s methods (a)…………………169
Table 4.4 The summary of the 19th century’s methods (b)…………………170
Table 4.5 The summary of the 20th century’s methods…………………….201
Table 5.1 Chopin’s practising repertories for adolescent beginners………...302
Table 5.2 Plaidy and Pauer’s repertoires for the beginners…………………303
vi

Table 5.3 Plaidy and Pauer’s repertoires for the advanced students………...304
Table 5.4 Plaidy and Pauer’s repertoires for the more advanced students…….304

vii

List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Posterior view of the bones of the left hand………………………...19
Figure 2.2 Hand muscles. left: palmar; right: dorsal…………………………23
Figure 2.3 Synovial joint……………………………………………………...28
Figure 2.4 Posterior view of the left-hand ligaments………………………...30
Figure 4.1 Chiroplast………………………………………………………...118
Figure 4.2 Dactylion (a)…………………………………………………….119
Figure 4.3 Dactylion (b)…………………………………………………….120
Figure 4.4 Digitorium……………………………………………………….121
Figure 4.5 Contents from Bertini’s method book…………………………...148
Figure 4.6 Deppe’s posture (a)……………………………………………...166
Figure 4.7 Deppe’s posture (b)……………………………………………...166
Figure 4.8 Breithaupt’s hand position………………………………………178
Figure 4.9 The third-class lever……………………………………………...184
Figure 5.1 Ulnar Nerve……………………………………………………...223
Figure 5.2 Mechanical analysis when playing the piano…………………...225
Figure 5.3 Mechanical analysis of sitting upright………..………………...227
Figure 5.4 Three-hinged arches, the reaction of supports…………………...230
Figure 5.5 Reactions of supports and internal forces………………………….231
Figure 5.6 Mechanical analysis of hand bridge……………………………….232
Figure 5.7 Tendons of the left hand……………………………………………237
viii

Figure 5.8 Weight touch position…………………………………………...242
Figure 5.9 Mikimoto method for relaxing arms…………………………….243
Figure 5.10 Arm lever with the elbow as the fulcrum………………………246
Figure 5.11 Five-finger exercise hand position……………………………...267
Figure 5.12 the hand movements with scale exercise within an octave in B
major....................................................................................274
Figure 5.13 B major scale’s resonance………………………………………...276
Figure 5.14 Ascending scale in C major by the right hand……………………279
Figure 5.15 Ascending arpeggio in C major by the right hand………………...279
Figure 5.16 The forwards movement of the right hand when playing ascending anddescending arpeggios……….….…………………………….284
Figure 5.17 The vertical movement of the right hand when playing ascending anddescending arpeggios………………………………………….285
Figure 5.18 The tendon and nerves of the right hand and wrist……………….288
Figure 5.19 Mikimoto training board………………...……………………...….295

ix

List of Graphs

Graph 3.1 Interval Spans (the respondents who began study after age ten) ……49
Graph 3.2 Interval Spans (the respondents who began to study before age ten) ….49
Graph 3.3 The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents who began study after
age ten) …………………………………………………………….51
Graph 3.4 The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents who began to study
before age ten) ……….…………………………………………...52
Graph 3.5 How much pain do you feel when you practice the piano……………...55
Graph 3.6 How much do you enjoy practising the piano……………………….55
Graph 3.7 Participants’ Grades………………………………………………….59
Graph 3.8 Interval spans (the respondents who began study after age ten) …….60
Graph 3.9 Interval spans (the respondents who began to study before age ten) ….60
Graph 3.10 The difficulties in piano playing (The respondents who began study
after ten) ………………………….………………………………62
Graph 3.11 The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents who began to study
before age ten) …………………………………………………….63
Graph 3.12 How much pain do you feel when you practice the piano…………69
Graph 3.13 How much do you enjoy practising the piano……………………...70
Graph 3.14 Interval spans (the respondents began studying after age ten) ……...75
Graph 3.15 Interval spans (the respondents began studying before age ten) …......76
Graph 3.16 The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents began studying
after ten) ……………………………………………………….77
Graph 3.17 The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents began studyingxbefore ten) …………………….……………………………….78
Graph 3.18 How much pain do you feel when you practice the piano………...80
Graph 3.19 How much do you enjoy practising the piano…………………….80
Graph 3.20 The ages of piano instructors……………………………………...83
Graph 3.21 Instructor’s teaching experience…………….…….…………….84
Graph 3.22 The age that the teachers began to learn piano……………………85
Graph 3.23 The age when the male students began to learn piano……………86
Graph 3.24 The age when the female students began to learn piano….……….86
Graph 3.25 Problems of male and female students who began piano study after
age ten……………………………….………………………...88
Graph 3.26 Teaching materials used in lessons by instructors………………...91xi

List of Examples

Example 5.1 M. Clementi’s Introduction to the Art of Playing the Pianoforte,
Op.42, Lecon XXVIII, mm. 1-5. Leipzig: C. F. Peters. Arranged
from J. Haydn’s Piano Trio in G major, Hob.XV:25, the 1st
movement……………………………………………………...239
Example 5.2 J. N. Hummel’s Piano Sonata No.5, Op. 81, the 1st movement,
mm. 24-26. Braunschweig: Henry Litolff’s Verlag……...……240
Example 5.3 Richardson’s finger crossing exercise………………….………268
Example 5.4 Plaidy’s finger crossing exercise…………………...………….269
Example 5.5 Pauer’s finger crossing exercise………………………………...269
Example 5.6 Leschetizky’s finger crossing exercise………………………....269
Example 5.7 The thumb exercise in the right hand…………………………...271
Example 5.8 Right hand preparatory exercise in B major………….………...272
Example 5.9 The exercise for fingers to move smoothly…………………….281
Example 5.10 The preparatory exercise for arpeggios of Leschetizky……....282

xii

Chapter I: Introduction
1.1 The Background of the Research

At the end of the 16th century during the Chinese Ming Dynasty, Matteo
Ricci, an Italian Jesuit priest, arrived at China’s Macau and brought a clavichord
to the Beijing court. It is the earliest record of the keyboard instrument from
Western countries in China. We know from historical records Kang Xi, the fourthemperor of the Qing Dynasty was the first emperor to learn piano, and it ispossible he was a late beginner. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, China began toimplement isolationist policies, and communication with Western countries was
forbidden. Contact with the outside was limited until 1840, when Westernbusiness and culture once again began to have a presence in China. Consequently,
more and more modern pianos appeared in large port cities, such as Shanghai andGuangzhou. In the middle of the 20th century, the Russian composer and pianist
Alexander Tcherepnin made a significant donation to Chinese piano education;
then, piano learning became more accessible than before in China. In 1978, Chinabegan “Economic Reforms” termed “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” ledby Deng Xiaoping, a great president of new China after Mao Zedong. Since theOpium War, Western powers have knocked on China’s gate. Under modern new
China, the people have moved from humiliation to prosperity and strength. After
achieving the affluence and stability we see today, more and more Chinese people1yearn for spiritual life. Learning from the Western world has become anirresistible trend. Among different fields of study, whether in science or art, welearn from the excellent aspects of Western cultures and integrate them into our
5000-year-old traditional culture. This is the purpose of the new generation ofteachers and students.

With the rapid development of the economy, more and more people havestarted to learn Western music and study the piano. By the end of 2010, there
were about five million piano learners in China. The age they began to learn
piano is different, with some of them starting from childhood, some of them froma later age like middle school, and others even starting from high school oradulthood. Nowadays, with the fierce competition in society, one more skill
represents one more chance to survive. Therefore, more and more parents let theirchildren participate in various off-campus and extra-curricular classes, such as
painting, calligraphy, music instruments, and dance. The increased interest in arts
is driven by the cultural development of society. There were nearly nine million
university graduates in 2020; many of them cannot find a suitable job tocorrespond to their majors. However, the students with professional skills canfind jobs quickly, especially those studying art and music, resulting from thesurge in social needs. At the same time, the traditional concept that a person
should possess at least one survivor technique is also influencing the school
education and psychological aspects between students and parents. More andmore students have multiple skills, for example, they can play instruments,2

painting or dancing, and when parents are aware of this, they will let theirchildren start learning skills. Thus, the psychology of conformity or thepsychology of rivalry has brought a sense of crisis to parents.

After the Chinese economic reform in 1978, the idea of Western education
was brought into China and started influencing the schools’ teaching strategies.
For example, the contributions of Soviet Union educator Vasyl Sukhomlynsky
and his particular attention to the educational and methodological bases for moral
education are notable (Lovat, Toomey, & Clement, 2010). The American
educator, Harvard University professor Howard Gardner (1991) listed sevenintelligence items in his educational theory. They are: 1. Linguistic intelligence;
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence; 3. Musical intelligence; 4. Bodilykinaesthetic intelligence; 5. Visual-spatial intelligence; 6. Interpersonal
intelligence; 7. Intrapersonal intelligence. This is known as the multiple
intelligence theory. In his book, he catalogued the extent to which students
possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, andunderstand in different ways. Inspired by it, China’s nine-year compulsory
education has gradually taken shape, focusing on cultivating students’ overall
development of morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics and labour
technology, which are called the Five Ways of Life. Take my experience as an
example: In the junior high school graduation examination to enter senior highschool you need to take a physical exam, including long-distance running, long
jump, and shot put. For the last two years, music has also been included in the3examination. These educational concepts have become popular among schools
and families, and it is that due to the schools’ aesthetic education that parents
began to realise the importance of overall development. Hence, even middle
school students began to learn an instrument – generally, the piano. The above is
one of the reasons for the increase of late beginners in the political and economic
environment. Furthermore, in some areas of China, because parents are too busy
with work and traffic conditions are dangerous, it is difficult for young children
to go to classes alone. Thus, after children grow a little older, they are sent toparticipate in off-campus classes. On account of this social and environment
factors, children usually start learning piano at a late age.

Beyond that, the following reasons can lead to the growing numbers of thelate beginners. The diversity of students’ learning purposes is the first reason forthe more significant number of late beginners. Some of them are forced to study
piano by their parents. Except for the reasons mentioned above, Chinese parents
often have the traditional view that if children are not good at school studies,
they should study art or some craft skills so when they enter society, they cansurvive by themselves. This expectation from parents informs students’ learning
purpose. Some students genuinely like music and want to learn music from theheart. In a Chinese school’s music class, teachers usually teach students how toappreciate Western music, and some schools even provide pianos for students totake piano lessons after classes. As a result, some students ask parents if they canparticipate in off-campus classes to gain a deeper understanding of Western4

music. Also, some students plan to take the art entrance examination or enter theuniversity as art majors in the future. Students may choose to attend an art
university if they have entered senior high school and realised that they could not
go to a good university, or if someone thought they could not pass some required
courses. As more and more students take this path, a training institution in China
called Art College Entrance Examination Training was implemented.

I had some experiences teaching piano students who were preparing for theconservatory of music entrance examination from 2013 to 2015 in the training
institutions. Almost all of the students started piano study at a late age, around
15 or 16 years old, and during that time, they were going to participate in thecollege entrance examination after 9 or 10 months. Among them, the proportionof male and female students was almost the same, but the level of piano
performance was quite different. Some of them were studying sonatas of Mozart
or Haydn; some of them were learning Czerny Etudes Op. 740; some of themwere practising Chopin etudes. They chose their majors according to their piano
level and the advice from the teachers at the conservatory of music. My one malestudent played the Chopin Etude Op. 25 No. 12 “Ocean”, and he was finallyadmitted as a piano major in the Music Education College of Sichuan
Conservatory of Music. This student was also a late beginner, but he was better
than other students in his musical understanding. Other students were admitted
to the same college as vocal majors, music management, and music education
majors. Moreover, some students entered the Music College of Sichuan Normal
5University to study music education. Unfortunately, none of the students could
be admitted as piano performance majors.

When I taught them, I found that some students had poor self-control andwere easily tempted by various distractions, such as mobile games, delicious food,and shopping. Because after they have been through years of education andaccrued experiences from their abundant modern lifestyles, they have formed
their habits and obtained various interests. This leads them to desire to makemore choices for themselves when they face challenges rather than listening totheir parents. And this is one of the most significant differences between
adolescent and early child beginners. It goes without saying that late beginners
have more advantages than younger beginners in the aspects of psychology andcognitive. Nevertheless, younger beginners have more advantages than late
beginners in some aspects, such as the potential development of locomotororgans, ears training, and more possibilities in teaching methods. Additionally,
when I teach the late beginners, I found that some techniques like trills, doublenotes and even scales and arpeggios were tricky for those students. It brings
challenges for them to achieve their goals in a short time. Consequently, I will
discuss these problems and solutions in the following chapters.

Other students are confident that they can get good scores in the college
entrance examination. However, if students have artistic ability, they can takepart in some special examinations in more excellent universities. These6

universities can provide more favourable admission conditions, like lowering theadmission score for artistically gifted students. Therefore, some students start tostudy an instrument after entering middle or senior high school, and they arecalled speciality music students. A certification is needed to take such a special
examination, and students can participate in the National Social Art Grade
Examination to gain the certification. In China, the following institutions mainly
hold examinations and issue certificates: The Grade Examination Committee ofChina Conservatory of Music, Central Conservatory of Music, Shanghai
Conservatory of Music, and Chinese Musicians’ Association. However, today,
no matter what age group, most people will take the examination held by theabove institutions as long as they are learning musical instruments because thisis not only an affirmation of their learning achievements at this stage, but also akind of psychological encouragement and a certificate to prove their cultural
strength.

In China, there are a lot of excellent comprehensive universities recruiting
students with an art speciality. It is a policy that while examinees are
participating in the normal college entrance examination, they can join in theparticular art examination of those comprehensive universities so that theexaminees can be recruited with lower entrance scores than those examinees who
only participate in the normal college entrance examination. In 2018, there were7

some universities1 recruiting piano speciality students. Notably, in the enrolment
content of Donghua University, the piano is a significant development project of
the School Art Troupe. 2 The colleges or universities that recruit speciality music
students each year are different. The majors recruited are determined according
to the musical instruments required by the school orchestra or college orchestra
in that year. These excellent universities pay attention to students’ overall quality
and all-around development. The policy prompts more students to learn musicalinstruments to enter a better university. Nevertheless, in another sense, westernmusic has been widely promoted in China’s education.

Due to these policies and music education experiences in modern China, wehave a new understanding of how to cultivate students’ interests and hobbies.
These speciality music students are one of the products. With the further
improvement of the multiple selection systems, I believe that diversified
enrolment will become a reality. Today’s college entrance examination is nolonger the “naked score” era as in the past, nor is it the standard policy of bonus
points. Instead, it shows a conception of selective education that is much more

1

For instance, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University,

Nanjing Agricultural University, China University of Geosciences, Northwestern Polytechnical
University, Southwest Jiaotong University, Hunan University, China Pharmaceutical University,
China Agricultural University, China University of Political Science and Law, Tianjin University,
Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Donghua University, and Wuhan University. In 2019,
there were Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China Pharmaceutical University,
Donghua University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Wuhan University, etc.
2

Admission brochure of Art Troupe http://www.51gaoxiao.com/gaokao/ystcs/jz/index.html

8

comprehensive, reasonable, and impartial.

Another reason for adolescent beginners increasing is that the elementary
school assigns a lot of homework. When I was in elementary school, the teachers
usually assigned math, Chinese, and other subjects as my homework. Every day
when I came back home from school, the first thing I had to do was my homework,and after I finished my homework, I then had to read a large number ofextracurricular books, which the school teacher also required. Most of myclassmates had a similar daily life at that time. Research from Ma (2019) showsthat students’ academic loads mainly come from the demands of school andfamily, and homework time is the most influential factor of students’ subjective
feelings about their academic burden; the subjective feelings of burden affect not
only their learning motivation and academic achievement but also their overall
development.

According to a 2018 notice 3 from the Ministry of Education of the People’s
Republic of China on reducing the burden on primary and middle-high school
students, the total amount of homework should be strictly controlled in primaryand secondary schools. The notice emphasised that homework should not be
assigned in grades one or two of primary school, and no more than 60 minutes
per day should be spent doing homework in grades three to six. We hope that

3

Ministry of education of the People’s Republic of China
http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A06/s3321/201812/t20181229_365360.html

9schools will implement the curricular of the Ministry of Education as soon as
possible, make reasonable adjustments to students’ homework, respect theindividual differences and nature of students, protect their imagination andcreativity, and promote the overall development of the school environment.

For those adolescent beginners, the pedagogies used now also have theiradvantages. From my experiences, those students who will participate in thecollege examination have to practice Charles-Louis Hanon’s The Virtuoso
Pianist in 60 Exercises a lot. Its exercises 1 ~ 20 are called “preparatory
exercises”; exercises 21 ~ 43 are called “further exercises for the developmentof a virtuoso technique”; exercises 44 ~ 60 are called virtuoso exercises formastering the most outstanding technical difficulties”. Students are required topractice exercises 1 ~ 20 every day with a high finger motion, then progress
according to their practice. Depending on the major they intend to apply for, theymust choose the piano pieces for the examination. On the teacher’s side, theyteach students through their learning experiences and long-term teachingexperiences. A few teachers spent a long time guiding such students; hence they
developed several unique pedagogies. However, most teachers are extensively
experienced in guiding early beginners but inexperienced in teaching adolescent
beginners. As the number of adolescent beginners increases, those teachers haveto teach as well. Therefore, they are using the same teaching materials andmethods to instruct adolescent beginners. Those teachers who usually teachadolescent beginners the same way as early beginners have already become the10standard in piano teaching around China. They teach the staff first, then strikethe key with a single hand using Ferdinand Beyer’s textbook Vorschule im
Klavierspiel Op.101 (English Version: Beginning Piano School or Elementary
Instruction Book for the Piano); meanwhile, students practice finger strength andindependence by using The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises. After several
months of training, Carl Czerny’s Etudes Op. 599 introducing practical exercisesfor beginners is used. If there are talented students, Carl Czerny’s School of
Velocity Op. 299 is also used to guide them after a careful study of Etudes Op.
599. Indeed, several pieces of J.S Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias BWV 772 ~801 are also taught during the learning progress.

First of all, these pedagogies cannot significantly improve the students’ piano
performance in a short time. Secondly, practice that only aims at the examination
will train a student to be a real performance machine. Finally, even if theysuccessfully enter the music school, such experience will also cause students toform an undesirable model of thinking and foster bad practising habits in their
future music learning. Therefore, this study will solve these problems one by one
and bring the gospel to those adolescent beginners and their instructors.

1.2 The Purpose and Methods

This research will explore effective piano methodology and teachingstrategies in a scientific way for students who began their piano education in11adolescence. In the long history of piano method development, tradition and thepersonal experiences of the teachers themselves have been the standard methods
used in their research. Only a few approaches were far-sighted and followed thetrend of world science and information development, which has injected new
insight into piano playing. Although these methods also drew conclusions from
instructors’ personal experience, they did not rely solely on subjective
assessment, but also consulted and studied past teaching materials approachedfrom an objective perspective and modern educational standpoint. However, mostof those past materials and methods are explained in the form of hypotheses.
Although they seem clear and reasonable, their effectiveness in practice has notbeen verified yet because of the backwardness of the scientific equipment and an
inadequate understanding of interdisciplinary concepts. In the 21st century, many
researchers in the world have verified these hypotheses one by one throughcontemporary scientific means. Thus, many teachers realised the importance of
science in piano playing and began reading many of these advanced research
results, and they have updated their teaching methods accordingly. Consequently,
the core methodology of this research is to provide a set of practice approaches
for adolescent beginners by referring to new scientific insights.

In order to approach adolescent beginners, the first thing we should do is toknow the characteristics of the students. After consulting the relevant literature,
I have summarised the physiological properties of adolescent students related topiano performance. This summary is also informed by the physiology that I
12studied for four years during university, including the musculoskeletal system,
the nervous system, and soft tissue.

A questionnaire survey was used to obtain information about the difficulties
encountered by students in piano learning. Information about the teachers’
strategies and the problems they are aware of with these students was also
obtained. The questionnaire survey was conducted three times: The first time inJapan using a paper questionnaire; the second time an online questionnaire
survey was used to collect data from Chinese participants; for the third time an
online questionnaire was used to collect data from instructors in Japan. The
results have been analysed using statistical soft SPSS. Frequencies anddescriptive analysis were used to calculate the proportion of the items, such as
the number of the participants who selected different levels of playing difficulty;
linear regression was used to analyse the factors affecting daily practice time.
The classification of playing difficulties used the KJ method (affinity diagram)in the first survey. The second time it was carried out in the form of multiple
choices according to the classification results of the first time. Furthermore, I
audited the lessons of non-speciality students, including several adolescent
beginners, and interviewed them after the lessons.

Next, I looked up and studied thirty-five method books from the past threecenturies, and I found some methods that can be taught to adolescent beginners.
Thus, according to the questionnaire survey results, I have extracted the methods

13related to the following contents and briefly described their suitability foradolescent beginners: playing posture, the description of muscle and bonefunction in piano playing, finger independence, physical exercises, and scales
and arpeggios. In this part, I also summarised the development and current stateof piano music education.

Finally, according to the results above, the methods for adolescent beginners
and pedagogies for instructors have been preliminarily formulated. I haveanalysed the relevant aspects of playing posture through calculus and proved theinfluence of external force on playing by using physical mechanics theory, which
includes using the principle of the lever to explain the mechanism of the playing
apparatus. In addition, I combine the research results of various disciplines,
including psychology, physiology and pedagogy, which provide a theoreticalgrounding for the proposed piano methods and pedagogies.

The methods utilised in this study combined arts and science, showing thevalue of an interdisciplinary approach. It can help develop a scientific andcomprehensive piano method. In contemporary society, it is indispensable toresearch with a scientific concept. Only by using scientific ways, the problems
can be solved reasonably and efficiently. Nevertheless, although many scientificmethods have been applied in music research, the research on piano teaching still
remains at the experience teaching or teaching based on the correct methods
verified by data. However, there are no revolutionary and new methods that have14

been introduced. Therefore, we should inject new strength into piano education
research by using the scientific and reasonable means and with the concept ofinterdisciplinary, which is the central guiding ideology of my research. And I
believe it should keep in line with the development trend of the world. I wish that
piano students can quickly master their physical skills and genuinely enjoy themusic as soon as possible.

15

Chapter II: Characteristics of Adolescent
Beginners in Piano Learning
Adolescence is full of rich experiences and changes for all of us, such associal practice, personal relationships, and emotional development. This period
will shape our adult personality, values, outlook on life and will influence our
future living habits, work, and study. We will experience significant physical andpsychological changes, which influence not only our life and learning but also
the coping strategies of both parents and educators; their instruction and guidanceshould be tailored to the adolescent’s unique development. In this process
patience is important. Similarly, in piano teaching, it is not proper for adolescent
beginners to blindly use the same textbooks and teaching methods applied tochildren’s piano education. There are many differences in learning between the
two types of students. The posture of piano playing is different due to different
body types; the body’s movement patterns are different due to their physical andphysiological development; their ways of understanding and receiving music arealso different. Therefore, it is urgent to design a set of targeted and efficientpedagogies and practice methods, and it ought to be built on the adolescentphysical, physiological and psychological characteristics.

During education, especially in music instruments education, instructors
cannot efficiently guide students at a complicated and volatile developmental

16

stage unless instructors have a good grasp of the characteristics of adolescentswith respect to their physiology and psychology sides. Especially thephysiological maturity in adolescents is remarkable, and these kinds of changes
cause plenty of fundamental differences compared to childhood. Consequently,
realising the physiological changes of adolescence will help instructors finddependable, available, and distinctive methods for adolescent beginners.

Adolescence is usually associated with puberty. On average, puberty starts
from preadolescence. The puberty span among girls is around ages 10 ~ 17 years,
while for boys it lies during the ages of 11 ~ 18 years. This period is accompanied
by significant changes both physiological and psychological, such as
musculoskeletal growth, nerve system maturation, mental maturation, and otheraspects. In addition, as I mentioned in the last chapter, many adolescent students
are easily influenced and attracted by the surrounding environment, such as thetemptation brought by entertainment facilities and relaxation places. These
internal and external factors jointly guide the development track of adolescence.

There have been multiple documents about adolescent development.
However, this chapter only summarises several physiological aspects closely
associated with piano playing, such as hand skeleton, muscle strength, flexibility,
motor skills, and proprioception. Moreover, in the last part, I chose and summed
up some psychological research, including research about the relationshipbetween adolescents and their parents, adolescent emotions, and some17

discrepancies between female and male adolescents.

Here, as a preview, I listed a summary of physical and physiologicaldevelopments in adolescents (Brown, Patel, & Darmawan, 2017).

Table 2.1
Physical and physiological developments in adolescentsMale

Early Adolescence

Middle Adolescence

Late adolescence(10-13 years)(14-16 years)(16-20 years)

1. Rapid physical

1. Speed peak before

1. Strength,

growth and motor

PHV, strength andspeed, and size

skills development

power peaks follow

are developed

2. Sharp increase in

PHV 4continually but

muscle strength

2. Continue toget slower.

improve motor
performancethroughout
adolescence

Female

1. Experience

1. Perform better in

1. Muscular

puberty earlier thanbalance tasks

strengthmale

2. Do not improve incontinues to

2. Gradualmotor performanceincrease into

improvement inafter age 14 years.

adulthood.

muscle strength
Note: This table demonstrates the adolescent development of motor skills, muscle
strength, and other physical and physiological features between males and females.
(Made by the author)

The three stages of development in adolescence and the quantitative changes
4

PHV: peak height velocity reflects the maximum of biological maturity in adolescence.

18

they entail have brought many challenges to piano teaching. The macrodevelopment which is visible and the micro development which is invisible helps
us better understand Matthay’s visible and invisible theory in piano performance,
which will be mentioned in the following chapters. Then, the following will
introduce the development of adolescents from macro to micro.

2.1 Hand skeleton

In anatomy, the hand’s bones are divided into three parts: carpals,
metacarpals, and phalanges, see Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1
Posterior view of the bones of the left handNote: The figure shows the bone structure of the left hand. (Made by the author)

The purple areas are carpal bones, blue are metacarpal bones, yellow, green,19and red are phalangeal bones. In the phalanges area, the red part is called the
distal phalange; the green part is the middle phalange; the yellow part is theproximal phalange. The joint between the distal and middle phalange is the distalinterphalangeal joint (DIP), which is called the first joint in piano teaching; thejoint between the middle and proximal phalange is the proximal interphalangeal
joint (PIP), which is called the second joint; the joint between proximal andmetacarpal is the metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP), which is called the third
joint; at last, the joint between metacarpal and carpal is the carpometacarpal joint(CMC). This joint is unique to the thumb and is also the active part of the thumbwhen playing the piano. As the figure shows, the structural components of thethumb bone are different from other fingers. The thumb is without the DIP.
Instead, it has the interphalangeal joint (IP), and has none of the middle phalange.

The carpal bones consist of eight small bones. The development of handbones during adolescence is shown below (Gilsanz & Ratib, 2005).

Table 2.2
Hand Bone Development by Age and Gender
Bones
Age
Female:ages 2-7
Male: ages
3-9Carpals

Epiphysis of all
carpal bones arerecognisable

Metacarpals
Epiphyses
increase inwidth andthickness

Phalanges
Epiphyses increase inwidth and thickness* The size of theepiphyses in distal
phalanges get bigger

20

than middle phalanges
Female:All carpals

ages 7-13

become bigger

Male: ages

and

9-14

recognisable

1. The contours of the epiphyses start
to overlap the metaphysis.
2. The preparation for fusion

Female:ages 13-15

Rudiment

Male: ages

shapedFusionFusion (Distal, middle,
and proximal)

14-16
Female:ages 15-17
Male: ages

Completely developed

17-19
Note: The table shows the epiphysis period of knuckles in different genders duringadolescence. (Made by the author)

Because the epiphysis is covered cartilage in the joint, it is associated withhand stiffness and flexibility. As shown in Table 2.2, the epiphyseal fusion ofphalanges occurs around 13 ~ 15 years old in females and 14 ~ 16 years old inmales. The eight bones in the carpal mature around 15 ~ 17 years old in females
and 17 ~ 19 years old in males. However, Cardoso and Sevrtino (2020) showsthat epiphyseal fusion of the hand bones occurs around 12 ~ 18 years old infemales and 16 ~ 18 years old in males; the age of development is earlier; as thesecondary ossification centre in adolescence, epiphyseal fusion also occurs inwrist joints. Therefore, this development stabilises the joints and improves thefirmness of bones. The changes of these bones have a profound impact on thelearning and practice efficiency of adolescent piano beginners. The changes ofthese bones have a profound impact on the learning and practice efficiency of21

young piano beginners. At the same time, bone mass is also very significant inadolescence and affects their motor skill.

Bone mass is used to measure the mineral content of bones, is closely related
to bone metabolism, and has an important impact on bone strength. Bone mass
increases with age, making the bone stronger and more rigid. Although thestronger bones can help provide better hand support, the hand will lose more
softness in key touch. Many factors affect bone mass, such as gender, changing
age, and bone mineral density (BMD). In all adolescence, males show higher
levels of BMD than females throughout the body (Arabi, et al., 2004). Males
present higher BMD values at the femoral neck, whole body, hip, and arm, whilefemales present higher values at the lumbar spine (Krahenbühl, Gonçalves, Costa,& Filho, 2014). Gender difference play a critical role in the hardness of bones,
which could affect the posture of piano playing, the position of hands, and thecoordination of the whole body. From a microscopic point of view, thedevelopment and maturation of skeletons are also interacted by osteoblasts(bone-forming cells) and osteoclasts (related to monocyte or macrophage cells).
The former promotes the connection of bone cells, and the latter decomposes anddestroys bone tissue. Moreover, both types of cells do not decrease duringadolescence, or indeed, until old age (Becerikli, et al., 2017). Therefore, theskeleton during adolescence is in a state of constant renewal.

Bone mass reaches its peak on puberty. And in puberty, the skeletal strength22attained a more remarkable development. Furthermore, physical activities canimprove bone density and strength until early adolescence (Levine, 2015).
Therefore, even in early adolescence, there is still a chance to improve skeletal
strength by using physical exercise, for example, finger exercises. This will be
explored in Chapter V.

2.2 Muscle strength

Muscles of the arm and shoulder help play powerful music. In most cases,
we play with our fingers, so finger power becomes particularly important. I
suppose that most beginners have practised The Virtuoso Pianist composed by
Charles-Louis Hanon – it is an exercise for strengthening fingers. However, there
are no muscles in our fingers, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2
Hand muscles. left: palmar; right: dorsal

23

Source: Muscles of the hand. Retrieved from https://www.pond5.com/stockimages/illustrations/item/43425392-muscles-hand-palmar-view-unlabeled(Accessed on Feb 28, 2022)

These muscles guide the different movements of the fingers. Interossei
muscles between bones function to bend the MCP joints. The four dorsalinterossei muscles guide fingers away from each other; the three palmarinterossei muscles guide fingers pulling together. Lumbricals are located at the
knuckle to help straighten the fingers and bend the MCP joints. Hypothenar
muscles consist of three small muscles: the abductor digiti minimi that helps thelittle finger bend with the MCP joint; the flexor digiti minimi that guides thelittle finger as it pulls towards the ring finger; and the opponens digiti minimithat helps the little finger move towards the thumb. Finally, the thumb muscles
are the most complex. The main part is the thenar muscles group, which consistsof three muscles: the abductor pollicis brevis that guides the thumb to move in a
direction perpendicular to the palm; the flexor pollicis brevis that guides therotation of the CMC joint and the movement of the MCP joint; and the opponens
pollicis, which is the most important muscle to help the tip of the thumb touchother fingers’ tips and is the primary dynamic source for grasping. The strengthof the fingers comes from these hand muscles, and the firm and stable phalanx
and knuckles are the foundation that ensure the strength of the fingers.

There is a relationship between grip strength and finger strength. The middle
finger has the largest share of grip strength, followed by the ring finger, index

24

finger and little finger (Ohtsuki, 1981). However, grip strength is also related toage. Male grip strength will increase explosively after puberty until 25 ~ 30 years
old, but the female will increase gradually; at the same time, bone strength andgrip strength also affect each other (Schönau, et al., 1996). This provides ascientific basis for determining how to train teenagers’ finger strength whenpractising the piano. In order to improve finger strength, hand muscles are thekey, followed by solid hand bones and knuckles.

During female adolescence, Lang (2011) explains that because of higher
oestrogen levels, the mass and strength of bones and their corresponding muscles
increases rapidly; however, in young adulthood the level of oestrogen starts to
decline and the skeleton’s responsiveness to exercise declines faster than inmales. On the other hand, the male adolescent with a high level of testosterone
increases muscle mass and strength. In this period, the development of bone andmuscle is concurrent (Riggs, Melton, & Robb, 2004). Furthermore, there aremainly two aspects to the development of muscle forces in males: bonedimensions and strength (Lang, 2011). Therefore, different hormone levels inmales and females lead to different muscle and bone development patterns,
resulting in different training conditions of hand strength in adolescence. Our
muscle strength is related to bone structure and gender differences; moreover,the development of bone and muscle mass and strength continues longer in males
than in females after puberty. Therefore, in practice, we should not only consider
how to improve muscle strength but also pay attention to the playing posture of25

the hand. It is related to the stability of hand bones and knuckles and impacts
finger strength.

Regarding the development stages of muscle strength, Gaston and Malina
show that both males and females tend to increase muscle strength during thewhole of adolescence. However, males increase muscle strength from earlychildhood until 13 or 14 years old, followed by a significant acceleration until
the early or mid-20s; Females improves muscle strength later than males, ataround 15 years old. (Gaston & Malina, 1988) On the other hand, the genderdifferences in muscle strength are more present in the upper extremities and thetrunk (Lillegard, Brown, Wilson, Henderson, & Lewis, 1996). It follows that
instructors should notice both hand and upper limb positions. Simultaneously,
they should know the development schedule of muscle strength and choose thescientifically correct period to improve hand muscle strength.

Hand muscle strength plays an important role in piano playing. It is
influenced by gender, hand dominance, and other factors such as hand bones andneurophysiological mechanisms (Chen, McGee, Rich, Prudente, & Gillick, 2018).
Also, the handgrip can directly reflect hand strength. Adolescent males havehigher handgrip strength than females, and interestingly, physical activity andenergy, carbohydrate intake, and fat associate positively with handgrip strength
in males (Ng, Hairi, Jalaludin, & Majid, 2019). It is necessary to improve finger
and hand strength by physical exercise, and we should focus on handgrip strength;26

also, we should note that nutrients are also necessary for improving muscle
strength.

2.3 Flexibility

It is widely known that stiffness of movement is related to lubrication liquid
within joints called synovial fluid, the thickness of cartilage, and the mobility ofligaments. With the decrease of synovial fluid, cartilage tends to become thinner,and ligaments get shorter, causing movement to be stiff and inflexible.

There are seven types of synovial joints: 1) gliding joints – a joint that allows
the bone to glide left and right, such as carpal bones; 2) hinge joints – a joint thatallows the bone to move up and down but cannot move left and right; 3) pivot
joints, which may rotate externally (e.g., rotating the arm outward) or internally(e.g., rotating the arm inward); 4) condyloid joints – a joint allows the bone tomove back and forth or left and right relative to each other, such as the joint
between the wrist radius and the wrist bone; 5) saddle joints – a joint allowing
two bone blocks to move bidirectionally along the other bone block, such as the
CMC joint in the thumb; 6) socket joints – the most flexible type of joint, whichallows the bone to rotate freely in all directions, such as the shoulder joint; 7)
compound or bicondyloid joints – a joint that can move along two different axial
planes with a wider range of motion range than condyloid joints, such as the knee
joint. These synovial joints have five functions: 1) abduction – moving away27

from or towards the centre of the body; 2) adduction; 3) extension; 4) flexion –bending joints; 5) rotation. These movements are frequently used in piano
playing. However, the synovial fluid in the synovial joints secreted by thesynovial membrane decreases with age. Synovial fluid helps joints reduce
friction and absorb collision. There is no evidence to show that synovial fluid
decreases during adolescence, but there can be an abnormal level caused by alesion, such as arthritis.

Figure 2.3
Synovial joint*Made by the author

The articular cartilage makes joints move smoothly, lubricates joints, andcopes with a part of friction. With increasing age, the cartilage gets thick, and28because of the decreasing hydration of the matrix, the cartilage loses its ability
and becomes stiff (Fox, Bedi, & Rodeo, 2009). In addition, the cartilage thickness
is not found in children under six years old, but the cartilage of adolescent boys
is thicker than in girls of the same age (Spannow, Jensen, & Andersen, 2010).
Thus, the result indicates that physiological differences are caused by sex
hormones and perhaps relates to genetic factors. Therefore, the thickness of
cartilage has a significant impact on the physical flexibility of adolescent men.

Ligaments can protect joints, prevent overextension, and decrease thepossibility of fractures or sprains caused by excessive motions. Meanwhile,
ligaments guide joints to move fingers normally under external force loads anddistribute these loads to maintain the proper function of joints. There are different
kinds of ligaments in the hand, shown in Figure 2.4 Retinacular ligaments keep
the position during PIP and DIP flexion; MCP joint collateral ligaments stabilise
the MCP joint; deep transverse metacarpal ligaments limit metacarpal splay awayfrom the centre of the metacarpal bone; the DIP, PIP, and MCP joint collateral
ligaments are situated at the other side of their joint capsules.

29

Figure 2.4
Posterior view of the left-hand ligaments*Made by the author

Ligament links one bone to another bone, while tendons link muscle to bone.
Both are related to limb kinematics and influence body flexibility, smoothness,and precision. Although in early to mid-adolescence skeletal growth occurs
before musculotendinous growth (Gaston & Malina, 1988), it causes a decreaseinmusculotendinous

flexibility,

particularly

among

male

adolescents(Roemmich & Rogol, 1995). On the other hand, the intrinsic elastic features ofthe musculotendon are affected by muscular activation capacities in children
before age 10 (Lambertz, Mora, Grosset, & Pérot, 2003). Therefore, body
flexibility among adolescents tends to decline and become stiffer, and this will30

have an influence on the adolescent beginners of piano, especially with regard to
keystroke, arpeggio execution, and other techniques that need coordination
among different locomotor organs. Also, it prevents the practice of finger
independence and flexibility to a certain extent.

Recent studies show that there are internal and external factors that influencebody flexibility. Brown and Darmawan explained that internal physical factors
such as muscle volume, bone structure and muscles, tendons, joint capsules, andligaments contribute to tissue elasticity. On the other hand, external factors
include environmental factors of temperature and human factors such as warming
up before sports or physical exercise. (Brown, Patel, & Darmawan, 2017) It is
the evidence that warming up and doing physical exercise before practice,concerts, or after lessons will help fingers quickly obtain more flexibility andcontrol. However, those movements and motor abilities are dominated by themusculoskeletal system. The musculoskeletal and physical flexibility in females
is more pronounced than in males, furthermore, flexibility tends to decrease frommid-adolescence in males, while in females it increases slightly during earlyadolescence and typically plateaus at 14 ~ 15 years old (Brown, Patel, &Darmawan, 2017). Moreover, girls show greater flexibility at all years (Gaston& Malina, 1988). This demonstrates that besides age, gender differences are alsoa factor impacting body flexibility.

31

2.4 Motor skills

Motor skills are a learned ability that depends on the function of the brain,
skeleton, and nervous system, and which effectively applies skeletal muscle tocomplete a movement correctly and economically. In other words, it canaccomplish an action as accurately as possible in the shortest time and in the mosteconomical way. Motor skills rapidly develop and become more sensitive around3 ~ 5 years old, mainly reflecting the significant nervous system changes that
occur during this period. Also, humans’ movement abilities in this period arewidely improved. Gaston said that motor skill development related the age but
also depending on age. In the early adolescence, males with the rapid
development in motor performance, but females develop motor performance only
until about 13 or 14 years of age and after that with a bit subsequent improvement.
(Gaston & Malina, 1988) Until mid-adolescence, agility, coordination, strength,
and action speed are developing, but females do not improve motor performanceafter 14 years old; in late adolescence, almost all adolescents have reached theend of physical development (Branta, Haubenstricker, & Seefekdt, 1984).
Therefore, in the development of motor skills, gender differences have a great
influence. Compared with males, females’ development period is shorter. To theadolescent, the learning motor skills tends to be difficult. Thus, physiology
dictates that this time should be reserved for adolescent beginners to learn andpractice the basic techniques. Meanwhile, due to the age-related motor skill
development, finding a highly efficient method for adolescents is also a challenge32for instructors.

Motor skills are an internal collection of muscle activities that include grossand fine skills. Gross motor skills guide the body to learn and perform big
movements like posture, balance, running, and jumping using large muscles, andthese develop during childhood; fine motor skills guide the body to move fingers,
hands, and feet using small muscles, they are usually related to the commands ofthe nervous system, and they develop before preadolescence. There are threestudies from Smahel and Klímová about the mobility of metacarpophalangeal
joints (MCP) – wrist, flexion of proximal (PIP) – distal (DIP) interphalangeal
joints, and thumb joints. These studies objects include university students, seniorcitizens, and pianists, and each group contains males and females. The results
reveal differences in the phalangeal joints’ mobile abilities between pianists andnon-pianists, and the influence of gender differences on mobile abilities between
university students and senior citizens. Furthermore, this result can be used to
explain the data statistic results of Chapter III indirectly.

About the mobility of MCP joints, Smahel and Klímová shows that themobility and range of extension is better in females than males. This difference
is more significant in the senior citizens’ group than the university students’group, showing that gender and age are both related to the mobility of MCP joints.
The pianist group shows greater finger mobility than other groups; thedorsopalmar movements in males have better mobility in the left hand.

33

Furthermore, the MCP joint range of motion in dorsopalmar movement is moresignificant in the little finger among pianists, and the smallest in the index finger
among senior citizens. (Smahel, Z & A Klímová, 2004a) This reveals that thehand and finger not used often can become more flexible through systematictraining. Among all research subjects, the MCP joint range of motion in the left
hand is more remarkable than the right hand and is better in females than males.
The MCP joint is a vital part of piano keystroke; therefore, its physiologicalcharacteristics in different genders and ages play a role in this research.

Regarding PIP and DIP joints, Smahel and Klímová concluded that among
the three groups, the PIP joint of the little finger, and the DIP joints of the index
and ring fingers have the smallest flexion; in the university student group, theflexion of PIP joints in females is more significant than males. Among the
pianists, the gender differences are not significant because all of them obtained
professional finger exercises, which is to say the long-term systematic training
can reduce the differences brought about by gender. Comparing the seniorcitizens’ group and university students’ group, senior citizens show more
pronounced limitation in all PIP and DIP joints than university students, while
pianists show the same level of flexion as students. (Smahel, Z & A Klímová,
2004b) This shows that the PIP and DIP joints will lose their mobility withincreasing age if there is no intervention of external factors.

As for thumb joints, the Smahel and Klímová measured flexion of34

interphalangeal (IPP) and metacarpophalangeal (MPP) thumb joints. The flexion
variability of MPP is greater than IPP. All measurements of flexion andhyperadduction among the senior citizens have found limitations; mainly, thelimitation of thumb hyperadduction in males is more significant than in females.
Although the pianist group shows greater thumb hyperadduction, the greater
flexion only in the MPP joint of the males. (Smahel, Z & A Klímová, 2005a) The
thumb as a multifunctional member plays an important role in piano playing; its
flexibility and motor skill are related directly to almost all basic techniques.
Gender and age are the factors that influence the motions of the thumb, and thisinformed my search for a method, probably physical exercise, to help adolescent
beginners improve thumb function.

In conclusion, all phalangeal joints’ mobility declines and limits somemovement ranges with the increase of age. However, this phenomenon was notfound among pianists because they received long-term professional training,which slows down the phalangeal motor skills decline and reduces the differences
caused by gender.

Furthermore, Smahel and Klímová examined four aspects of wrist mobility
within various groups: flexion, radial duction, and the range of dorsovolar andradioulnar movements. The left and right wrists among student, senior and pianistgroups did not show apparent differences. However, both the student and seniorgroups show greater mobility in females with fewer limitations than males in the35

four areas of mobility, except for flexion in females of the senior group. In
particular, the females of the senior group showed a bit of limitation in ulnar
duction. On the other hand, the pianist group shows greater ulnar duction thanstudents, and compared to the senior group, males have a greater range of
dorsovolar and radioulnar motion than female pianists. (Smahel, Z & A Klímová,2005b) This shows that gender differences lead the variabilities in motor skills.
Movements controlled with large muscles usually show a higher ability in males
than in females; the gross motor skill decides the result. However, withsystematic practice, the wrist motor skill of males will even surpass females
because the males seem to have high potential in that area.

In addition, motor skills mould posture, movement procedures, and thenervous system. Meanwhile, the alteration of body movement perception isassociated with piano playing posture and techniques such as jumps and octaves;it might be due to pure sensory decline and the alteration of the motor systemwith increasing age (Landelle, Ahmadi, & Kayounoudias, 2018). Therefore,
instructors should consider the influence of motor system development inadolescence when teaching posture or finger movements.

2.5 Proprioception

Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, which are sensory receptors
located in muscles, tendons, and joints. Proprioception is associated with the36feeling of limb position, movement, balance, and weight, and can be considered
the information collecting station for learning motor skills. Proprioceptive
development occurs between the ages of 5 and 18 years, mainly in the
improvement of precision, however, the sensory response variability decreases
with increasing age (Holst-Wolf, Yeh, & Konczak, 2016). Although adolescentstudents can improve their precision by repeated practice, the sense of keyboard
resistance will be more unresponsive with decreasing sensory receptors.
Therefore, late beginners find it difficult to produce good sound quality with ashort amount of practice even if they have sensitive ears, which is because theirminds can understand the music and know what sound they want, but due todecreasing proprioception, their playing apparatus cannot obtain feedback fromkeys sensitively.

A study shows that the velocity in discriminating real and illusory hand
movements decreases with age, and verifies that the declination of kinesthetics
perceptions relates to muscle proprioception more than touch (Landelle, Ahmadi,& Kayounoudias, 2018). This requires players to possess spatial awareness whenplaying the piano, because techniques such as large leaps and rapid passages
require hands and fingers to pick up and move quickly over the keys; without
good spatial awareness, the player would play wrong notes frequently.
Additionally, the wrong notes probably also relate to another factor. In themusculoskeletal system, various elements of the proprioceptive system declinewith age, therefore, it perhaps causes frequent accidents and motor control
37

problems (Kröger & Watkins, 2021). Moreover, the relationship between postureand proprioception shows that adolescents cannot achieve a posture as perfect asadults because the mechanisms related to postural control are still maturing
during adolescence, which influences the information that proprioceptors
integrate with postural control (Viel, Vaugoyeau, & Assaiante, 2009).

Moreover, there is a kind of proprioceptor – muscle spindles – distributed in
the muscles. It is a unique sensory receptor that contributes to proprioception,
posture and movement control, motor learning, and the plasticity of motor
behaviours (Österland, Liu, Thornell, & Eriksson, 2011). This sensor iscomposed of muscle fibres. Matthews explained that when external forces pullmuscles or muscles contract spontaneously, the length of intrafusal muscle fibre
will change and then stimulate the sensory nerve endings of intrafusal muscle
fibre to trigger impulses and transmit them to the nerve centre to generate
proprioception. Muscle spindles are usually distributed all over the body, butthere are more in limbs, especially hand and foot muscles. These muscle spindles
help muscles measure stretch and remind the brain to issue protection commands
when muscles are overstretched. Moreover, muscle spindles not only sense thelength of the muscles but also sense their velocity. (Matthews, 2015)
Development lasts from the embryonic stage until adulthood (Kröger & Watkins,2021), and due to the neurophysiological factors underlying proprioceptive
development and the neuro changes influencing muscle spindles, precision insensing muscle position and random errors decline with increasing age (Holst38

Wolf, Yeh, & Konczak, 2016). Therefore, proprioceptive development affecting
postural precision is still active during adolescence.

From the above, we can surmise that late beginners can enhance
proprioception through systematic and scientific physical exercise, and it isdoubtless to say that finger physical exercise is necessary for adolescent
beginners. Therefore, I will introduce four kinds of equipment used during the
19th century and recommend the finger exercise of Mikimoto during Chapters IV
and V, then provide scientific and natural physical finger exercise to improve thefinger function of adolescent beginners. Hand stiffness is related to the tendon orligament and associated with motor and musculoskeletal systems. Physicalexercise can help adolescent beginners improve softness of touch and enhance
the flexibility of locomotor organs used for playing. Simultaneously, we can use
more metaphorical and image-based ways to explain music, leaving them space
to understand music in a more personal way. Indeed, there are plenty of pastmethods and pedagogies that had guided beginners start from music theories, andI think those methods have realised that understanding music at first is importantfor playing instruments. Thus, studying psychological development inadolescence has become a vital link for my research. I will introduce several
typical psychological characteristics of adolescents in the next part that informthe mental aspect of my methods.

39

2.6 Psychological Characteristics

In adolescence, significant mental, intellectual, and cognitive changes occur.
One development is that adolescents can understand more things from theircircumstances to increase various abilities or skills and influence their choices;
one is their psychological changes when facing risks. Among those different
abilities, adolescents develop abstract thinking, the ability to consider thingsfrom various perspectives, and the ability to reflect on the process of thinking(Mills & Anandakumar, 2020). It is important to imagine music and understandmusic theory before learning instruments. A good comprehension brings goodmusicality; a good musicality help fingers to play fluently.

Simultaneously, emotional sensitivity factors into the cognitive developmentof adolescents. Positive emotions benefit adolescents by staving off depression(Zhao, Yu, Wu, Zeng, & Peng, 2019). Moreover, there is a tendency among east
Asian adolescents to like living with positive and negative emotions, and theiremotional expression is more demonstrative than Euro-American adolescents(Miyamoto & Ryff, 2011). There is a saying in Chinese family education:“Children should grow up with encouragement; praise can stimulate students’learning motivation”. Nevertheless, everything has two sides. The different
growth environments and individual variations may cause a complacency effectfor some students. Therefore, instructors should avoid overcomplimenting
adolescent students.

40

Conversely, negative emotions have a detrimental effect. According to Zhang,adolescents easily suffer social anxiety and stress. On the one side, when theyobtain negative evaluations from society it will produce high anxiety; on theother side, substantial conformity causes lower self-esteem and brings moresocial anxieties to adolescents. (Zhang, Deng, Yu, Zhao, & Liu, 2016)
Conformity is a kind of behaviour that entails following beliefs, attitudes, andnorms prevalent in society. It is usually motivated by fear of social exclusion.
Similarly, vanity is a kind of psychology express form to gain honour on thesurface and arouse widespread concern from surroundings. These two
psychologies are apparent in different personal behaviours among art students. It
is a beneficial form of conformity to compete with each other and shorten thelearning progress. However, conformity has the terrible side, which tends tovanity, express himself, or pursue too much in material aspects.

Avoiding bad conformity and vanity in adolescent students is the essential
mental task; if they are formed, stress and anxiety will be more substantial andnegatively affect adolescents’ practice and behaviour. Musical works that are too
difficult to practice easily lead to negative emotion and make students practiceinefficiently, and even causes students to lose self-confidence and give up.
Therefore, it is necessary to set an appropriate goal and choose music reasonably
suited to the technical level of adolescent beginners.

Most of adolescents are sensitive to feedback, especially middle-high school

41

students (Matsumoto & Yamashita, 2020). Therefore, instructors should grasp
this reality, make a learning schedule according to the physiologicalcharacteristics of adolescents, encourage adolescent students to practice andstudy piano methodically, and simultaneously avoid “plucking up a crop to help
it grow” by refraining from unnecessary negative evaluations.

According to Kodama, Ishikuma, and Toyama, when junior high school
students face stresses and anxieties mentioned above, such as negativeevaluations, their behaviours are more optimistic than senior high school students.
Besides negative evaluations, to some degree school examinations are achallenging topic for students. Though examinations cause much anxiety insenior high school students, they also promote their learning progress. (Kodama,
Ishikuma, & Toyama, 2017) I mentioned in Chapter I that many piano students
are preparing for the conservatory of music entrance examination, and I believe
they must be anxious. Kodama’s research has provided us with the revelation that
instructors must help adolescent piano learners tackle difficulties such as
performance techniques, score reading or memorization, and lead them to truly
recognise the purpose of examinations and help them make a scientific learning
programme.

The relationship between instructors, parents, and adolescents is important.
This relationship impacts adolescents’ life in different dimensions. In China,
many students in grade one or two of senior high school have decided whether to42take the art college entrance examination according to their academic
performance. These students usually participate in the art college entrance
examination after one or two years of intensive training. Their goals are clear,and most of their motivation comes from the pressure of the college entrance
examination. Moreover, some senior high school students prepare to participate
in the special examinations of comprehensive universities because those
universities will give them preferential admission standards in the entrance
examination. Mills and Anandakumar have given two suggestions for instructors
and families to guide those students who have definite purposes. First, guidingthem to make choices by themselves and allowing them free space is necessary
for adolescent life. Second, it is vital to give them an optimistic environment.
(Anandakumar, 2020) On the one hand, both two suggestions are conductive torelieving social anxiety and stress. On the other hand, in piano learning, whenadolescents can play some mid-level pieces, teachers can provide several pieces
as options. Also, in the course instruction, the enjoyable feeling of learning musicshould be conveyed.

Relationships cannot be unilateral but must allow interactional influences.
Adolescents cannot deal with an inharmonious relationship with their parents
unless they improve their ability of self-control (Liu, Wang, & Tian, 2019). Selfcontrol is a habit that needs to be cultivated in adolescence. It helps people
regulate their behaviour to achieve higher goals. Adolescent students who wantto participate in the art college entrance examination will inevitably be under the43

pressure of learning and practice, and this makes it difficult to resist thetemptation of divertissements and relaxation available in their environment. At
this time, self-control will play an important role.

The interactional influences between parents and adolescents play animportant role in adolescent students’ life. Life satisfaction and adolescents’
academic achievement is undoubtedly interconnected (Atikulac, Bos, Foulkes,
Crone, & Hoorn, 2019). It is a kind of satisfaction that comes from gaining
approval or rewards from the surrounding environment, which the adolescents
prefer, and this state will continue into young adulthood. However, adolescents’
academic achievement is associated with parents’ education, particularly on themother’s side (Crede, Wirthwein, McElvany, & Steinmayr, 2015). Support fromparents plays an important role, and adolescents rely on it heavily. Dutton showsthat Chinese adolescents are more reliant on informational and emotional support
from their parents, while other countries’ adolescents represented less reliance.
Moreover, distress is impacted by informational supports among Americanadolescents while other Asian adolescents show a lower influence. (Dutton, Choi,& Choi, 2020) This proves that the ability to communicate with students’ parents
is necessary for an instructor.

Finally, I want to supplement with one more psychological viewpoint. We
have examined development from early childhood to adolescence and seen how
psychological and emotional changes will be affected by both internal and44

external factors. Especially for those adolescent beginners who will participate
in art training, there are more psychological changes and problems related to theoutside world. If students cannot acquire good psychological counselling at thisstage, or the teacher cannot assist their psychological problems correctly and ina timely manner, those students who have the dream to be a teacher will not beable to resolve their psychological problems. After they become teachers, they
will likewise be unable to provide effective guidance regarding the psychologicalproblems of their own students, resulting in a vicious cycle in education.

45

Chapter III: Practical Surveys on Piano Learners
and Instructors
In the previous chapter, we saw the physiological and several psychologicalcharacteristics of adolescents. As a practical experiment, I conductedquestionnaire research for students during 2018, 2019, and for instructors in 2020
to learn the specific situation of adolescent beginners, such as specifics about thetechniques that students felt are difficult, the maximum interval their hand canspan, and the daily practice time. Furthermore, the research investigatedproblems encountered by teachers when they were teaching adolescent beginners.
In addition to the questionnaires, I also interviewed several adolescent beginners
after I audited their lessons. These results 5 will provide the actual evidence andhelp the study and implementation of better piano methods. In addition, all tables
and graphs are made by the author in this chapter.

3.1 On Piano learners

3.1.1 2018 Questionnaire

In 2018, I surveyed 194 Japanese music university students, which all come5

Some results of this chapters by using percentage to do the statistics. In statistics, giving meaning

to data is to use percentage description; the percentage represents the change value relative to otherthings. I used percentage for statistical analysis in this survey because there are few samples in somegroups, and comparison between groups is required.

46

from Elisabeth University of Music. It includes 117 piano minor and 43 piano
major students, and other 34 students are not piano major or minor but havestudied the piano for several years. The questionnaire included the following
questions (Among them, questions (3) and (4) are open-ended questions.):(1) Personal details (major, grade, age, gender, the starting age of piano learning).
(2) What interval can you reach (interval span)?
(3) The difficult techniques that you meet when practising the piano.
(4) The techniques that cannot be conquered after lots of practice.
(5) Daily piano practice time.
(6) How much pain and fun do you feel during practice?

The results of the question (1) are shown in Table 3.1, and the respondents
include all undergraduate students who are learning piano from grades one tofour. In addition, there are 3 piano minor females did not answer when do they
started the piano learning. Their ages are shown in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1
Number of respondents

Piano Major
Piano Minor

After age ten

Before age ten

Male

1

2

FemaleMale
Female

1
19
20

39
9
66

Note: The table shows 157 respondents who are piano major and minor students. (3 piano
minor female respondents did not answer their piano starting time.)

47

Table 3.1 reveals that there are more piano minor students than piano majors,
and there are more students who began piano learning before age ten than after
age ten. However, there is a lack of statistical significance about the data of the
piano major students who started piano learning after age ten because the small
samples.

Table 3.2
The age of respondents
Age
Gender

18

19

20

21

22

23

25

54

70

Female
Male

31
6

30
16

37
4

44
6

7
3

2
1

1
0

1
0

1
0

Note: 4 students did not answer this question.

Table 3.2. shows that almost all students are between 18 and 22 years old,but there is one female student who is 54 years old and one female student who
is 70 years old. No male students are over 25 years old.

The following graphs show the result of question (2): the intervals that canbe reached by students who began piano study after and before age ten. In thegraphs, the numbers in parenthesis show the average of interval spans. The
respondents who began learning piano after age ten include 1 male piano major
and 1 female, 18 piano minor males and 18 piano minor females answered, and1 male and 2 female piano minors did not answer it. The respondents who began
the learning piano before age ten include 2 male and 39 female piano majors, and9 male and 64 female piano minors, 2 piano minor females did not answer it.
48

Graph 3.1
Interval Spans (the respondents who began study after age ten)
Interval Spans
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
5

6

Male (9.0) Piano Major

7

8

Female (9.0) Piano Major

910Male (8.8) Piano Minor

11

12

Female (8.2) Piano Minor

Graph 3.2
Interval Spans (the respondents who began to study before age ten)
Interval Spans
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
5

6

Male (8.5) Piano Major

7

8

Female (9.0) Piano Major

910Male (9.7) Piano Minor

11

12

Female (8.5) Piano Minor

As indicated in the graphs, it is revealed that piano minors who began piano
study before age ten can reach larger intervals than those who began after age
49

ten. It is possible that, since reasonable and proper exercise can promoteincreased bone mass and muscle maturation (Ruggeri & Baroncelli, 2006)(Manna, 2014), the hands of students who have been trained since childhood
could be more stretched than those who started late. Furthermore, because theligaments and tendons are still soft and under maturation in childhood, they canbe stretched or shaped more under regular practice. However, this research lacks
statistical significance due to the small sample size, and I will do the
supplemental analysis in the next year’s questionnaire survey to find moreevidence.

By using the KJ method (Affinity Diagram), I analysed the students’ answers
about the questions (3) and (4), and finally got seven categories: basic techniques,
harmony, tone colour, finger movement, control, sight-reading, and difficult key
reaches. The basic techniques include arpeggios, scales, trills, octaves,ornaments, skips, staccato, and pedalling; finger movement includes fast
movement, fingering, keystroke, rhythm, touch, and strength; control includes
dynamics, balance, polyphony, timbre, and phrasing; sight-reading also includes
memorisation. Then I executed data statistics by SPSS software.

The results are shown in Graphs 3.3 (the students who started piano after ageten) and 3.4 (the students who started piano before age ten). Among the
respondents of Graph 3.3, in the piano major group, five females answered, andone female did not answer; no male answered this part. In the piano minor group,50

14 males answered and 5 did not answer, 13 females answered and 7 did not. In
Graph 3.4, in the piano major group, 1 male and 39 females answered, and 1
male did not answer. In the piano minor group, 3 males and 62 females answered,and 6 males and 4 females did not answer. In this survey, there are few piano
major students who started piano learning after age ten, hence this part is not in
the scope of analysis.

Graph 3.3
The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents who began study after age ten)
The Difficulties in piano playing
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Basic
techniques

HarmonyMale(Piano Major)

Tone colour

Female(Piano Major)

Fingermovement

ControlMale(Piano Minor)

Sight reading Difficult key
reaches
Female(Piano Minor)

51

Graph 3.4
The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents who began to study before ageten)
The Difficulties in piano playing
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Basic
techniques

HarmonyMale(Piano Major)

Tone colour

Female(Piano Major)

Fingermovement

ControlMale(Piano Minor)

Sight reading

Difficult key
reaches

Female(Piano Minor)

A comparison of Graph 3.3 and 3.4 reveal that in the piano minor group,
most female students who began piano study before age ten think the difficulties
are “finger movement” and “control”; in the piano major group, most of thefemale students think the difficulty is “basic technique”. On the other hand,because there are only 2 piano major students who began piano study after age
ten answered the question, the sample size is too small, so it is without statisticalsignificance. Furthermore, most male students who started piano after age ten in
the piano minor group think the difficulties are “basic technique” and “control”,
while most female students only think “control” is difficult. Also, three malestudents answered the question, and they think that “finger movement” isproblematic.
52

The students who began piano study after age ten pay more attention to music
but less to fingers. However, among the students who began piano study before
age ten, their attention is mostly focused on finger movement and basic technique,except the piano minor female students, while a part of them also think “control”
is difficult. This result suggests that piano major student is more proficient infinger control and pursue perfect touch and music performance techniques.
According to the physiological characteristics of adolescents and myperspectives, the reason why piano minor students are poor touch proficiency islack of their piano practising time, which is to say, the unconditional reflex
between fingers and keys has not been established yet. Additionally, it also
implies there is an influence brought by gender difference.

The following table reveals the average result of question (5), concerning
daily practice time. Almost all participants answered this question, except two
female piano minor students who began piano study after age ten, one male piano
minor, and one female student who began piano study before age ten. Because
there were only two participants in the category of piano major students whobegan piano study after age ten, this part was not considered during analysis.

53

Table 3.3
Average daily practice time

Piano Major
Piano Minor

After age ten

Before age ten

Male

120.00 min

225.00 min

FemaleMale
Female240.00 min
43.42 min48.61 min170.77 min
52.50 min53.23 minFrom Table 3.3 we can easily find that the students who began piano study
before ten years old usually practice more than students who began after age ten.
It may be because the students who began piano study after ten years old lacklong-term training and did not cultivate the hobby of piano playing sincechildhood; thus, piano practice is just dull.

The following graphs show the result of question (6). Almost all participants
answered the question, except for 1 female piano minor student who began piano
study before age ten.

54

Graph 3.5
How much pain do you feel when you practice the piano

HOW MUCH PAIN DO YOU FEEL
WHEN YOU PRACTICE PIANO
5
5

after ten

3.05
2.89

4
3.03

before ten

3.88
3.53
1 very2
Male (major)

3
Female (major)

4

Male (minor)

Female (minor)

no
pain

5

Graph 3.6
How much do you enjoy practising the piano

HOW MUCH DO YOU ENJOY
PRACTICING PIANO
5
5

after ten

3.32
3.22

5
3.23

before ten

4.63
3.88
1 not enjoyable at all2
Male (major)

3
Female(major)

Male (minor)

4very enjoyable5

Female (minor)55

We can break down the results shown in these two graphs. Because there arefew samples of piano major students, those results can be not analysed. From thegraphs, students who began to study piano after age ten feel more pain thanstudents who began before age ten. Additionally, students who began study
before age ten feel more enjoyment than students who began after age ten.
Consequently, students who began studying after age ten are easy to feel
frustrating and unenjoyable when practising the piano. There are probably manyreasons for this psychological result. Such as I mentioned in Chapter I, theseadolescent beginners have a strong purpose in their study. In addition, thetemptation of the surrounding environment may make their practice seem like achore. This suggests instructors need to notice the psychological aspects ofadolescent beginners.

The survey in 2018 has shed some light on the current situation of students
who began piano learning after age ten. However, due to the small number ofsamples, a second survey was conducted in 2019 to increase the sample size andgain more accurate results.

3.1.2 2019 Questionnaire

During the survey in 2019, all participants were from Chinese schools,
including Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Sichuan Normal University Collegeof Music, Changchun Humanities and Science College – the College of Arts, and56

other students from the training schools for the college entrance examination ofart. Among them, most students were 1) piano minor undergraduate students; 2)preparing for art college entrance examinations; 3) just started piano learning one
to three years age. Therefore, this survey will provide a reliable basis for the
research.

Regarding the questionnaire contents, almost all questions are consistent
with those of 2018, but one question’s form was changed. In the 2018questionnaire, question 4 concerning the difficulties students felt while practising
the piano was classified into 17 items by the KJ method (Affinity Diagram). The
items included “scales”, “arpeggios”, “tremolos”, “octaves”, “trills”, “using the
3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers”, “difficult key reaches”, “different movement in two
hands”, “body balance”, “chords”, “keeping tempo”, “dynamic control”, “tonecolour”, “pedalling”, “reading many key signatures”, “memorising scores”, and“fast finger movement”. These 17 items were used in question (3) in 2019 but
were organised in a multiple-choice format unlike the open-ended question in
2018. The following six questions are involved in this questionnaire:(1) Personal details (major, grade, age, gender, the starting age of piano learning).
(2) What interval can you reach (interval span)?
(3) The difficult techniques that you encounter when practising the piano.
(4) Daily piano practice time.
(5) How much pain and fun do you feel during practice?

57

The participants were divided into four groups: piano majors, piano minors,
those who began piano study after age ten, and those who began piano study
before age ten. In each group, respondents are classified by sex. There were 481
respondents, including 420 university students and graduated students, 60 seniorhigh school students, and 1 respondent is unknown. Among 420 university
students and graduated students, 215 respondents answered their majors: there
are 17 male and 37 female piano majors, and 27 male and 71 female piano minors
who started piano learning after age ten. Furthermore, there are 5 male and 39
female piano majors, and 7 male and 12 female piano minors who started piano
learning before age ten.

The following analysis is divided into two parts, the objects all come fromthe 481 respondents. Analysis (1) take the 215 respondents who answered theirmajors; Analysis (2) extract 348 respondents who are piano minor and highschool students, and the respondents who did not answer their majors.

Analysis (1):First, the result of the participants’ grades is as follows:58

Graph 3.7
Participants’ Grades

Participants Grade
160
140
120

141
113

100
80

59

60
40

34

45

20

46
8

8

14

8

2

1

U
nd
er
gr
ad
ua
U
te
nd
1s
er
gr
t
ad
ua
U
te
nd
2n
er
d
gr
ad
u
at
U
e3
nd
U
e
rd
r
nd
gr
ad
er
gr
ua
ad
te
ua
4t
te
h
G
ra
du
at
Po
io
stg
n
ra
du
at
Po
e1
stg
st
ra
du
at
e2
Po
nd
stg
ra
du
at
M
e3
as
te
rd
rG
ra
du
at
io
n
D
oc
t
Se
or
al
ni
or
1s
t
H
ig
h
Ju
Sc
ni
ho
or
ol
H
ig
h
Sc
ho
ol

0

The graph shows that most of the respondents come from the first and second
grades of college. There are some high school students who are preparing for theart college entrance examination in art training institutions.

Graphs 3.8 and 3.9 show the results of question (2) (What interval can you
reach (interval span)?), and the number in parenthesis at the foot of the graphshows the average interval spans.

59

Graph 3.8
Interval spans (the respondents who began study after age ten)
Interval Spans
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
5

6

Male(9.12)Piano Major

7

8

9

Female(8.00)Piano Major

10

Male(8.30)Piano Minor

11

12

Female(8.01)Piano Minor

Graph 3.9
Interval spans (the respondents who began to study before age ten)
Interval Spans
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
5

6

Male(9.80)Piano Major

7

8

9

Female(9.05)Piano Major

1011

Male(8.86)Piano Minor

12

13

14

Female(8.58)Piano Minor

The results show that the male piano majors can reach larger intervals thanmale piano minors, and the same result was observed among the female students.
60

Several students can only reach intervals shorter than a 7th, which is a problem
when playing the piano. Moreover, several male respondents who began piano
study after age ten chose intervals shorter than an octave, which is also a big
problem when playing the piano. There are two influences to be considered. One
is a gender difference; females are usually born with small hands, but males’ areusually bigger. Another is the starting age of piano study. Early beginners havehigher body plasticity, thus systematic training can influence their physiologicaldevelopment. However, because the body plasticity of adolescent beginners
declines, even if they are trained for the same time span as the early beginners,
their change on the physiological level is still negligible. Therefore, adolescent
beginners need to adopt a more efficient and scientific piano practice method,such as finger exercises.

Compared to Graph 3.8 and 3.9, almost all respondents who began piano
study after age ten can reach intervals over an octave. More early-beginner malepiano majors can reach intervals over an octave, especially 10ths, than male piano
majors who began piano study after age ten. This shows that hand softness andflexibility are challenges for late beginners. During childhood, humans have asoft and immature skeleton, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and nerves. The
development of these body systems is influenced by external factors. However,
the epiphysis in human finger joints is ossified at the end of puberty. In
physiological terms, we call it the epiphyseal fusion of the phalanges, whichmeans hands are no longer soft and flexible like in childhood, and it becomes a61

big problem for piano practice. This physiological principle can be used to
explain the survey results.

Graph 3.10 and Graph 3.11 show the result of question (3) concerning thedifficult techniques encountered when practising the piano. All of theparticipants answered this question. The graphs are divided into two groups
according to the starting age of learning piano for comparative analysis.

Graph 3.10
The difficulties in piano playing (The respondents who began study after ten)
The Difficulties in piano playing (1)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
ScalesArpeggiosMale(Piano Major)

Tremolos

Octaves

Female(Piano Major)

TrillsUsing 3rd, Difficult Different
4th, 5th key reaches movement
fingerin twohands

Male(Piano Minor)

Bodybalance

Female(Piano Minor)

62

The Difficulties in Piano Playing (2)

70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Chords

Keeping
tempo

Male(Piano Major)

Dynamic Tone colour Pedalling
control
Female(Piano Major)

Reading Memorizing Fast finger
many keyscore
movement
signatures

Male(Piano Minor)

Female(Piano Minor)

Graph 3.11
The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents who began to study before ageten)
The Difficulties in Piano Playing (1)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
ScalesArpeggios TremolosMale(Piano Major)

Octaves

Female(Piano Major)

TrillsUsing 3rd, Difficulties Different
4th ,5th
reaches movement
fingerin twohands

Male(Piano Minor)

Bodybalance

Female(Piano Minor)

63

The Difficulties in Piano Playing (2)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Chords

Keeping
tempo

Male(Piano Major)

Dynamic
controlTone colour

Female(Piano Major)

Pedalling

Reading
many keysignatures

Male(Piano Minor)

Memorizing Fast fingerscore
movement
Female(Piano Minor)

As can be seen from Graph 3.10, over 50% of male piano majors chose theoptions of “using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger”, “dynamic control”, “tone colour”
and “fast finger movement”. Over 50% of female piano majors chose “fast finger
movement”. Regarding the options of basic techniques like “scales”, “arpeggios”,“tremolos”, “octaves”, “different movements in two hands”, “body balance”,“chords”, and “pedalling”, more male students than female students chose them.
Among piano minors, over 50% of male students chose “using the 3rd, 4th, and5th finger”, and over 40% of males chose “arpeggios”, “different movement in
two hands” and “fast finger movement”. Over 50% of female students chose“Fast finger movement”, and over 40% of female students chose “using the 3rd,
4th, and 5th finger” and “dynamic control”.

On the other hand, Graph 3.11 shows the results of the piano students whostarted piano learning before age ten. We can find a similar result to the last64

graph. There are more male than female students who chose “scales”, “arpeggios”,“tremolos”, and “octaves”. Among the piano majors over 50% of male students
chose “using the 3rd, 4th and 5th finger” and “tone colour”; over 50% of female
students chose “tone colour”. Moreover, over 40% of male students chose“arpeggios” and “tremolos”. Among piano minors, over 50% of male students
chose “reading many key signatures”, while over 40% of female students chose“dynamics” and “fast finger movement”. Additionally, over 40% of malestudents chose “memorising scores”, and over 40% of female students chose“dynamic control” and “fast finger movement”.

The results from Graphs 3.10 and 3.11 reveal that 1) gender difference isindeed a factor in piano playing, especially in the techniques related to finger use;2) systematic and long-term practice can influence change on a physiologicallevel; 3) piano major students are aware of the tone colour and dynamic elements
related to piano sounds and music. I suspect this is not merely the result of having
begun to study early in life, but also of having had long-term professional training,which has improved the sensitivity of their ears and fingers. Therefore, they
concentrate more on the sounds than other objects; 4) fewer students who began
piano study before age ten chose items about basic techniques than those whobegan after age ten. Therefore, this could indicate that learning piano for a more
extended time and starting at an early age will make it easier to get over thedifficulties of basic techniques; 5) the students who chose “using the 3rd, 4th,and 5th finger” suggests that this problem is closely related to physiological65

factors, because whatever the starting age, this problem widely exists among themale students. Therefore, the experiments comparing same-age male and female
pianists and non-pianists are suggested in future research. 6) due to long-term
practice, whatever the piano starting age, the flexibility of the motor organs andthe hand’s extensiveness can be improved. Also, finger sensitivity can beobtained; 7) starting piano study with music theory is feasible for late beginners
because students who started piano learning after age ten chose theory-related
items (reading many key signatures, memorising score) less than the students
who started piano before age ten, it means they feel it is difficult. Furthermore,late beginners’ cognitive competence contributes to higher understanding in thisarea.

Through the analysis of the above two graphs, I summarised the following
table. Thus, we can see what is difficult for the students who started piano before
or after ten; also, we can compare the similarities and differences between theirchoices. Finally, the results were analysed by the proportion of students who
selected each item.

66

Table 3.4
The difficulties for piano students

Piano
Major

Male

Female
Male
Piano
Minor
FemaleAfter age ten
Before age ten
Using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger
Tone colour
Scale
Dynamic control
Arpeggios
Fast finger movement
TremolosPedalling
Tone colour
Fast finger movement
Using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger
Arpeggios
Reading many key signatures
Fast finger movement
Memorising scores
Different movements in two hands
Using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger
Tone colour
Dynamic control
Fast finger movement

Note: The table shows the difficulties of piano major and minor students while practising
the piano with different starting ages.

Table 3.4. leads us to the following conclusions: 1) The difficulties of “using
the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger” and “fast finger movement” are ubiquitous among
all students; 2) The difficulty of “using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger” usually exists
among the male students; 3) “Arpeggios” and “tremolos” are two difficulties
chosen by most early-beginner male piano majors, and “arpeggios” is selected bya high proportion of late-beginner male piano minors; 4) Students who started
learning piano after age ten face more difficulties than those who started before
age ten. Therefore, gender and starting age profoundly influence students’physiological changes, and these changes lead the body to adapt to the various
movements and actions in piano playing. In other words, the necessity of external
conditions and internal changes of the body are mutually restricted.

67

The table below shows the average result of question (4) concerning daily
practice time. Among the 152 respondents who began studying piano after ten,
17 male and 36 female piano major students answered the question while 1
female student did not; 27 male and 68 female piano minor students answered
while 3 female students did not. Among the 63 respondents who began piano
study before ten, 5 male and 36 female piano major students answered thequestion while 3 female students did not; all 7 male and 11 female piano minor
students answered while 1 female student did not.

Table 3.5
Average daily practice time

Piano Major
Piano Minor

After age ten

Before age ten

Male

180.59 min

174.00 min

FemaleMale
Female122.22 min
80.37 min85.69 min143.39 min
90.00 min89.55 minTable 3.5 shows the average daily practice time of participants. Obviously,
the piano major students practice more than the piano minor students.
Nevertheless, the piano minors who began piano study before age ten practise
more than the student who began after age ten. The cause of this phenomenon
could be related to the students’ practice methods and how much fun they feel inpractice. Moreover, piano minor late beginners usually recognise piano as a task
during their school study. After all, piano is not their majors.

Besides the physiological effects, the emotion in practice also has an
68influence on piano practice. The following graphs reveal the result of question(5). Regarding the survey, the respondents include the following: Among the
piano major respondents, 5 male and 39 female respondents began piano study
before ten years old; 17 male and 37 female respondents began the piano study
after ten years old. Among the piano minor respondents, 7 male and 12 female
respondents began piano study before ten years old; 27 male and 71 female
respondents began piano study after ten years old. Respondents chose fromdegree one, very painful or not enjoyable at all, to degree five, no pain or very
enjoyable, and degree three is standard. The results are averaged.

Graph 3.12
How much pain do you feel when you practice the piano

HOW MUCH PAIN DO YOU FEEL
WHEN YOU PRACTICE PIANO
3.71
3.32

after ten

3.11
2.92

2.60
3.38

before ten

3.14
3.33
1 very painful
Male (major)

2

3
Female (major)

Male (minor)

4

no pain 5

Female (minor)

69

Graph 3.13
How much do you enjoy practising the piano

HOW MUCH DO YOU ENJOY
PRACTICING PIANO
3.94
3.92

after ten

3.22
3.48

2.60
3.90

before ten

3.71
3.67
1 not enjoyable at all 2
Male (major)

3
Female (major)

Male (minor)

4very enjoyable 5

Female (minor)

Concerning Graph 3.12, the survey’s question is “How much pain do you
feel when practising the piano?”. We can see there are two groups that fall within
the middle of the scale, and they are male piano majors who began piano study
before ten years old (2.60) and female piano minors who began piano study after
ten years old (2.92). Furthermore, the group closest to the “no pain” end of thescale is the male piano majors who began piano study after ten years old (3.71).

Regarding Graph 3.13, the question is “How much do you enjoy practising
the piano?”. We can see there is only one group lower than the scale’s midpoint,
which is male piano majors who began learning piano before ten years old (2.60).
Moreover, three groups are the closest to the “very enjoyable” end of the scale.

70

They are male piano majors who began study after ten years old (3.94), female
piano majors who began study after ten years old, (3.92) and female piano majors
who began study before ten years old (3.90). Furthermore, male piano majors
who started learning piano before age ten showed that they did not like practising
the piano. Among the students who began to learn piano after ten years old, thepiano majors felt practising is more enjoyable than the piano minors. Thissuggests to the teachers that it is necessary to cultivate students’ interest in piano
learning rather than just focusing on playing skills.

Moreover, it can be concluded by combining Graph 3.12, Graph 3.13 andTable 3.5 that most students who began learning piano before age ten are happierand enjoy practising piano more than those who began after age ten. Then,concerning whether the students’ emotions or feelings during piano practice are
related to the daily practice time, the following conclusions are obtained throughthe linear regression analysis, which reveals the interactions between emotions
and daily practice time. The analysis includes 435 respondents, among them,
there are 111 respondents who started piano learning before age ten, and 322
respondents who started piano learning after age ten.

71

Table 3.6
Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis of the students who start piano
before age ten
Model Summary b
ModelR
R SquareAdjusted R Square1.241 a.058.050
a. Predictors: (Constant), how much pain do you feelb. Dependent Variable: daily practice time

Std. Error of the Estimate
85.267ANOVA aModel
Sum of Squares
df
Mean Square
1 Regression
49340.552
149340.552
Residual
799751.413
110
7270.467
Total
849091.964
111
a. Dependent Variable: daily practice timeb. Predictors: (Constant), how much pain do you feel

Coefficients a
Model
UnstandardisedStandardised
Coefficients
Coefficients
B
Std. Error
Beta
1(Constant)
61.17829.098
Painful
21.5258.263.241
a. Dependent Variable: daily practice time

F
6.786

Sig.
.010 b

t

Sig.

2.102
2.605

.038
.010

A stepwise multiple linear regression was calculated to predict daily practicetime based on how much enjoyment and pain the students felt during practiceamong the students who started piano playing before ten. A significant regression
equation was found (F (1,110) = 6.786, p < 0.05), with an R 2 of 0.050. Even the
feeling of pain was a significant predictor of daily practice time, but theirrelationship cannot be proved enough according to the analysis results.

72

Table 3.7
Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis of the students who start piano after
age tenModel Summary
Model
1

R
.335 aR Square.113

Adjusted R Square.110

Std. Error of the Estimate
75.5062.356 b.126.12175.031a. Predictors: (Constant), How much enjoyment do you feel?
b. Predictors: (Constant), How much enjoyment do you feel and how much pain do
you feel?

ANOVA aSum ofModel
Squaresdf
Mean SquareF
Sig.
1
Regression
232077.651
1232077.651
40.707.000 bResidual
1830062.40
321
5701.129
Total
2062140.06
322
2
Regression
260660.675
2130330.338
23.151.000 cResidual
1801479.38
320
5629.623
Total
2062140.06
322
a. Dependent Variable: daily practice timeb. Predictors: (Constant), How much enjoyment do you feel?
c. Predictors: (Constant), How much enjoyment do you feel and how much pain do
you feel?

Coefficients a
Unstandardised
Coefficients
Std.
Model
B
Error
1
(Constant)
7.887
16.182
Enjoyable
28.4494.459
2(Constant)-2.62116.743
Enjoyable
20.113
5.772
Painful
12.6295.605
a. Dependent Variable: daily practice timeStandardised
Coefficients
Beta
.335
.237
.153

t
.487
6.380
-.157
3.484
2.253

Sig.
.626
.000
.876
.001
.025

For students who started piano playing after ten, a stepwise multiple linear
regression was calculated to predict daily practice time based on how enjoyable
and painful the students found practicing. In the first step (Model 1), a significant
regression equation was found (F (1, 321) = 40.707, p < 0.001), with an R 2 of73

0.110. In the second step (Model 2), a significant regression equation was also
found (F (2, 320) = 23.151, p < 0.001), with an R 2 of 0.121. The enjoyable andpainful feelings were significant predictors of daily practice time, but enjoyable
feelings are more significant than painful feelings.

It can be seen that for students who started learning piano before age ten, as
long as they do not feel pain when practising, they will not resist practising the
piano. Because the enjoyable felt during piano practice is not related to the piano
practice time, the current research results show that even if the students feelenjoyment, the piano practice time may not increase. On the contrary, forstudents who started learning piano after age ten, if they do not feel pain, themore enjoyable they are, the more practice time. However, no matter what kindof students, the essential point in the study is enjoyment. Especially foradolescent beginners, students should use music itself to understand music, enjoy
music, and thus experience the pleasure. This result laid the psychologicalfoundation for my future pedagogy research.

Analysis (2):The statistics above are based on piano majors and minors with a university
degree or above. After the analysis, we have acquired many results and evidence
for my research. However, because the object in my research is adolescent
beginners, and in order to extend the sample size to obtain more accurate results,74

I aimed at and extracted the data of respondents who are not piano majors, which
includes piano minors and high school students. Therefore, removing all piano
majors, leaves 348 non-piano major college and high school students, amongwhom 69 began to learn piano before the age of ten (Male: 18; Female: 51), and279 (Male: 75; Female: 204) began to learn piano after the age of ten. Thus, thisgroup is like a control group. Because these students are not professionals, andmost of them started late, the problems they reflected will provide a basis forlesson design in the early stage of teaching. Additionally, their results will becompared to the evidence from the previous analysis.

Graph 3.14
Interval spans (the respondents began studying after age ten)
Interval Spans
50.0%
45.0%
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
5

6

7

8
Male(8.69)

9

10

11

12

16

Female(7.95)

75

Graph 3.15
Interval spans (the respondents began studying before age ten)
Interval Spans
50.0%
45.0%
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
5

6

7

8
Male(9.28)

9

10

11

14

Female(8.51)

From the two graphs above, the same results as with Graph 3.8 and 3.9 canbe obtained. Again, male students can reach larger intervals than female students,and early beginners can reach larger intervals than late beginners.

76Graph 3.16
The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents began studying after ten)
The Difficulties in Piano Playing (1)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
ScalesArpeggios

Tremolos

Octaves

Male

TrillsUsing 3rd, Difficulties Different
4th ,5th
reaches
movement
fingerin two hands

Bodybalance

FemaleThe Difficulties in Piano Playing (2)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Chords

Keeping
tempo

Dynamic
controlTone colour

Male

Pedalling

Reading
many keysignatures

Memorizing
score

Fast finger
movement

Female77

Graph 3.17
The difficulties in piano playing (the respondents began studying before ten)
The Difficulties in Piano Playing (1)
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
ScalesArpeggios

Tremolos

Octaves

Male

TrillsUsing 3rd, Difficulties Different
4th ,5th
reaches
movement
fingerin two hands

Bodybalance

FemaleThe Difficulties in Piano Playing (2)
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Chords

Keeping
tempo

Dynamic
controlTone colour

Male

Pedalling

Reading
many keysignatures

Memorizing
score

Fast finger
movement

FemaleAccording to Graph 3.16 and Graph 3.17, I arranged the following table.

78

Table 3.8
The difficulties for piano students

Male

FemaleAfter age ten
Before age ten
Using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger
Fast finger movement
Arpeggios
Tone colour
Fast finger movement
Using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th
fingerDynamic control
Tone colour

Note: The table shows the difficulties of piano students who are not piano majors whenpractising the piano.

Table 3.8 shows similar results to Table 3.4. However, Table 3.8 only
includes non-professional piano students. Therefore, the results above willbalance the results of Table 3.4; thus, we can obtain the difficulties thatadolescent beginners feel when practising the piano. The difficulties are 1) using
the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger; 2) fast finger movement; 3) arpeggios. Besides these,issues such as different movement in two hands and dynamic control wereselected by a large proportion of piano majors and minors.

Table 3.9
Average daily practice time
After age ten

Before age ten

Male

124.59 min

139.17 min

Female92.32 min112.76 min

79

Graph 3.18
How much pain do you feel when you practice the piano

HOW MUCH PAIN DO YOU FEEL
WHEN YOU PRACTICE PIANO
3.19
3.02

after ten

3.28
3.39

before ten

1very painful

2

3
Male

4

5
no painFemaleGraph 3.19
How much do you enjoy practising the piano

HOW MUCH DO YOU ENJOY
PRACTICING PIANO
3.60

after ten

3.32

3.78
3.61

before ten

1

not enjoyable at all

2

3
Male

4

very enjoyable

5

FemaleConcerning Table 3.9, we can obtain the same results as Table 3.5; thestudents who began learning piano before age ten practice more time than those
who began after age ten. Moreover, Graph 3.18 and Graph 3.19 show similar
results to Graph 3.12 and Graph 3.13. Therefore, we can conclude that whether

80these adolescent beginners are piano majors or high school students, thedifficulties they encounter in piano practice and their psychological reactions arealmost similar. Thus, the result has expanded the scope of application of thepedagogies and methods I am studying.

After two years of the student surveys, I have found some problems thatstudents encounter in piano practice, and their difference in ages and genders canbe seen. However, students are only one side of the issue. There is a Chinese
saying: “Generally, for matters under heaven, those closely involved cannot see
as clearly as those outsides”. Therefore, investigating the teachers is necessary
to take the overall dimensions of students’ problems.

3.2 On Instructors

41 piano instructors including 39 females and 2 males, were surveyed byonline questionnaire in 2020. The survey purpose is to find out the problems that
instructors face when they are teaching adolescent beginners. One more purpose
is to investigate how teachers instruct and what teaching materials they use whenteaching adolescent piano beginners. All of the participants were from Japan.
This questionnaire includes the following 5 questions (Among them, thequestions (4) and (5) are multiple-choice form, and questions (6) – (11) are openended questions.):(1) Personal details (gender, age, and teacher’s teaching experience).
81

(2) The age when the teacher began to learn piano.
(3) The age to start piano lessons. According to the law of physiologicaldevelopment of males and females in adolescence, 6 the age is divided into
different age groups. Among males, the age groups are divided into before age
10, 10 – 14, 14 – 16, 17 – 19, over age 19; among females, the age groups are
divided into before age 10, 10 – 13, 13 – 15, 15 – 17, over age 17.
(4) What kind of problems the teachers felt when they were instructing malepiano students who began piano after age ten?
(5) What kind of problems the teachers felt when they were instructing female
piano students who began piano after age ten?
(6) What kind of teaching materials or pieces are used to teach students whobegan piano study after age ten?
(7) How do you teach students who began piano study after age ten, and what isyour teaching plan?
(8) Problems of playing posture in male students.
(9) Problems of playing posture in female students.
(10) When teaching students who began piano study after age ten, what problems
or confusing things perplex you?
(11) Please write down any other problems you have in piano teaching.

Graph 3.20 and Graph 3.21 show the result of question (1), personal details.
All participants answered the question.

6

Gilsanz, Vicente and Osman Ratib. (2005) Hand Bone Age: A Digital Atlas of Skeletal Maturity.

Berlin: Springer.

82

Graph 3.20
The ages of piano instructors

The ages of piano instructors
12.20%

2.40% 4.90%
19.50%

17.10%
43.90%

20s

30s

40s

50s

60s

70s

The graph shows the proportions of piano teacher’s ages. Almost half ofteachers are in their 50s, which is the largest proportion, and the teachers in their
30s and 40s follow.

83Graph 3.21
Instructor’s teaching experience

Teacher’s teaching experience
4.90%
17.10%

78.00%

under 5 years

under 10 years

over 10 years

On teachers’ teaching experience, 78% of teachers have over 10 years ofteaching experience. Such ample teaching experience will provide a morevaluable reference for my study.

The following graph shows the result of question (2). All participants
responded to the question.

84

Graph 3.22
The age that the teachers began to learn piano
The age that the teacher began to learn piano
100.00%90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Before age 10

13~15
Male

FemaleAs is shown in the graph above, almost all teachers started to learn piano
before age ten, and few teachers started after age ten.

The following Graph 3.23 and Graph 3.24 reveal the result of question (3).
All participants answered the question.

85

Graph 3.23
The age when the male students began to learn piano
The age when the male students begin to learn piano
40

38

35
30
25
20

16
13

15
10

10

10

5

2

0
Before age 10

10~14

14~16

17~19

Over age 19

UnkownGraph 3.24
The age when the female students began to learn piano
The age when the female students begin to learn piano
40

39

35
30
25

25
20

17
14

15
9

10
5

1

0
Before age 10

10~13

13~15

15~17

Over age 17

UnkownThe statistics lead us to conclude that most teachers’ pupils began piano
study before age ten, but also many students began study after age ten, especially86female students. Thus, it demonstrates that many of the instructors surveyed haveobtained experiences in teaching students who began to study the piano after ten
years old. Therefore, for the following survey results, more value for the focusof my research.

Concerning questions (4) and (5) related to students' problems that teachers
encountered in their teaching, I summarised the following 18 items to conduct a
multiple-choice survey, and these choices are based on the previous research in2018 and 2019. In the graphs below, the 17 items are short for the words inparenthesis. 1. Cannot play scales well (scales); 2. Cannot play arpeggios well(arpeggios); 3. Cannot play tremolo well (tremolos); 4. Cannot play octaves well(octaves); 5. Cannot play trills well (trills); 6. Cannot move the 3rd, 4th and 5th
finger flexibly (using 3rd, 4th and 5th finger); 7. Insufficient balance when two
hands play differently (two hands play differently); 8. Insufficient balance of the
body (body balance); 9. Cannot reach an octave; 10. Difficult to play chords(chords); 11. Cannot feel rhythm well (rhythm); 12. Difficult to control dynamics(dynamic control); 13. Difficult to notice tone colour (tone colour); 14. Cannot
use pedal well (pedalling); 15. Difficult to read scores with many sharps or flatsin the key signature (reading many key signatures); 16. Difficult to remember
scores (remembering score); 17. Cannot play rapid passages well (rapid passage);
18. Inadequate self-study ability, such as not considering fingering and looking
up music terms by oneself (self-ability).

87Concerning these two questions, for the survey on late-beginner malestudents, there were 35 replies, and another 6 instructors were without experiencein teaching late beginners; for the survey on late-beginner female students, there
were 38 replies, and another 3 instructors were without experience in teachinglate beginners. Graph 3.25 reveals the result of the questions (4) and (5).

Graph 3.25
Problems of male and female students who began piano study after age ten
Problems of male and female students who began piano study after age ten (1)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
ScalesArpeggios

Tremolos

Octaves

Male

TrillsUsing 3rd, Two hands
4th ,5thplayfingerdifferently

BodybalanceCannotreach anoctaveFemale88

Problems of male and female students who began piano study after age ten (2)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
ChordsRhythmDaynamic Tone colour Pedalling
controlMale

Reading Memorizing
many keyscore
signatures

Rapid
passage

Self-ability

FemaleThese two graphs illustrate the problems teachers encounter or perceive whenteaching students who began piano study after ten years old. Firstly, we noticethat over 50% of teachers think the problems among male and female students
are: 1. Cannot move the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers flexibly; 2. Insufficient balance
when two hands play differently; 3. Insufficient balance of the body; 4. Cannot
play rapid passage well. Problems 1 and 4 also exist among the late-beginner
students on the grounds of the survey results from 2019. However, the other twobalance problems are not the most difficult points among late beginners. It canbe explained that these late-beginning students pay too much attention to the
movement of the hands while ignoring the coordination of the whole body andplaying posture, which are considered to be the two reasons it is difficult to get
improvement quickly among the late beginners.

The second thing we noticed is individual gender differences. The role of89gender can be seen from the graphs above and is reflected in the following four
problems: 1. Cannot play octaves well; 2. Cannot reach an octave; 3. Cannot use
pedal well; 4. Difficult to read the score with many sharps or flats in the key
signature. The first two Problems 1 and 2 are related to physiological differences.
However, in the 2019 survey, more male than female late beginners think octaves
are a problem; it could be that male teenagers are not as physically supple as
females. On the other hand, because some girls are born with small hands, theycannot reach an octave. Concerning the last two problems, the result of problem
3 is opposite to that of 2019, but problem 4 is consistent with that of 2019. Lackof solfeggio practice and music theory knowledge are considered to be the causesof these two problems.

The following Graph 3.26 shows us the result of question (6), “What kind ofteaching materials or pieces are used to teach students who began piano after age
ten?”. All of the participants responded to the question.

90

Graph 3.26
Teaching materials used in lessons by instructors
Teaching Materials
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

k

es

et
ex

bo
o

ck
ill
o
G

pa
n

Ba
c

h

Ja

G

lo
v

er

n
ps
o

Th
o

m

tin
a
So
na

on
an
H

pl
ay
to

in
g
rn
Le
a

fo

ra
du

lt

na
m
Ba
s

tie
n

r
ül
le
gm

Bu
r

y
rn
Bu
r

Cz
e

Be
y

er

0

From the graph, we can see that many teachers are still using traditional
teaching materials such as Beyer, Czerny, and Hanon. At the same time, manyteachers are using original Japanese teaching materials as well. This is a strategy
that uses local music to help learners familiarise themselves with melodies fast,
which is also a developing trend in China. This trend does not involve blindly
learning from Western music, but instead incorporates Chinese folk music into
piano works and collections. Many short and straightforward Chinese folk songs
are added to the piano teaching materials as well. China’s music education is
gradually becoming nationalized which is reflected in the book7 written by theauthor in 2020. These familiar traditional melodies can promote the piano

7

Wen, Wang, Dong Yizhi, Yang Qing. (2020) The Study on the Nationalization of Chinese Piano

Music in the New Era. Chengdu: Sichuan national publishing house.

91

learning process and help students understand piano playing better.

Moreover, in the survey results, Bastien’s teaching material is for adults, andthere is another material popular around Japan, the Burnam textbooks. Edna Mae
Burnam 8 is famous for her piano pedagogy. The most celebrated method is the A
Dozen a Day series, which includes piano rudiments and playing posture. Within
the series, there are several courses named Step by Step piano course. Thismethod guides students to understand music and is a good textbook that can beused for adolescent beginners because it is highly logical.

Regarding the result of question (7), “How do you teach students who began
piano study after age ten, and what is your teaching plan?”: According to theanswer, I made an inductive analysis which shows that most piano teachers
instruct students to study score reading, music theory, finger movement, andrhythm at the beginning. Because teachers believe that late beginners have an
ability to comprehend abstract matters, helping adolescent beginners understandmusic can rapidly improve their piano playing techniques. Moreover, as a late
beginner, I also realised that I lacked a sense of rhythm when playing the piano.
However, after I found my rhythmic sense, I am aware that I had a better
performance and understood music better. Therefore, grasping rhythm should bea focus in the first learning step for late beginners.

8

Edna Mae Burnam (1907-2007) was an American piano educator.

92

Besides the teaching methods above, some teachers think choosing suitablepieces and guiding students according to their purpose are essential points. Fromthe background research of Chapter I and the motivation of the piano learningsurvey in 2019, we can see that plenty of late beginners have their purpose to
begin studying piano. Therefore, this is a good strategy for guiding late beginners.
On the other hand, many teachers think cultivating students’ interest is the mostimportant thing because interest is the best teacher. Hence, they choose pieces
that students enjoy practising, which can improve their learning enthusiasm.

Furthermore, a few teachers consider that piano playing posture, relaxation,and cooperation of motor organs should be taught to late beginners at first. This
result will be noted in Chapter IV and discussed in Chapter V. It is the nature andeconomical posture could help adolescent beginners avoid detours. Also, someteachers think solfeggio needs to be introduced to late beginners as early as
possible, as Chopin said the ear is the best teacher for a piano player. Other
answers include that teachers should communicate with students more, encourage
students to practice the piano, and help them improve their self-confidence.
Because teachers have realised that some of the late beginning students feel
inferior, it is also vital to help them overcome their psychological difficulties.
The methods and pedagogies of teachers analysed above will be combined withthe research of Chapter IV, and then it will take the shape of a perfect teachingsystem in Chapter V.

93About question (8), “problems of playing postures in male students”, 33
teachers responded, and another eight did not answer the question. The teacher’sanswers about the posture problems in late-beginner males mainly include thefollowing aspects: a bent back, a high bench, and sitting far from the piano. In
addition, some teachers said that many students get stiffness in the shoulders
when playing the piano. A good sitting posture will bring a relaxed experience
to piano playing. At the same time, if students learn to relax their bodies,
especially their arms, it will significantly impact the effect of piano playing.

Concerning result of the question (9), “problems of female students inplaying posture”, 30 teachers responded, and the other 11 did not answer thequestion. The teachers’ answers about posture problems in female late beginners
are almost the same as the above. Nevertheless, two problems are not mentioned
among male students: folding fingers and pushing from the hands without finger
articulation.

Whether in male or female late beginners, it is common that the body is easily
becomes stiff in playing; however, due to gender and individual differences, theproblem manifests in different ways. Therefore, according to the survey, theseclues provided by teachers will be considered and discussed in the method
research in Chapter V.

Regarding the result of the question (10), “When teaching students who

94

began the piano study after age ten, what problems or confusing things perplex
you?”: There are 40 respondents, and one teacher did not answer the question.
The responses to this question, aside from responses that duplicate answers to
the last question, include insufficient practice time (lots of students need to finish
homework and go to other extracurricular activities), weak fingers, difficulties
making beautiful sounds, and playing music by feeling instead of understanding
it. Additionally, there are some psychological answers, such as students wanting
to obtain success as soon as possible, wanting everything perfect, and preferring
to take a shortcut. Moreover, teachers think they should pay attention to theirmood and manner of speaking because adolescent beginners have weak selfesteem and compare themselves to other students, which is motivated by vanity
in adolescence.

As can be seen from the results above, adolescent beginners are different
from early beginners in terms of physiology, and psychological maturity affects
piano learning as well. However, adolescent beginners still possess many
advantages. As one of the teachers replies, in addition to those students who havea specific purpose, most adolescent beginners come to learn piano spontaneously,
which helps teachers find an assistant – interest. Meanwhile, adolescent
beginners’ left brain has become a “theoretical brain” that I called, enabling themto understand the essence of music better than early young beginners.

Regarding question (11), “Please write down any other problems you have”:

95There are 27 teachers who did the supplements, and 14 teachers who did not.
After removing answers that duplicate responses to previous questions, teachers
responses include the following points: Basic technique practice is essential;
touch is difficult for late beginners; students are full of ardour at the beginning,but once they suffer difficulties they lose it; it is difficult to correct a terrible
playing habit; the students are usually not interested in learning because they feel
their fingers are weak; it is not a problem for students to understand music but toexpress music.

The results above demonstrate that with increasing age, the sensitivity ofnerves decrease, which leads to the key touch problems in late beginners. Withthe variety of problems emerging, it gradually wipes out the students’ desire tolearn the piano. Hence, many late beginners want to obtain results and skip overbasic exercises quickly. Consequently, when these students consolidate basic
skills, they need to be encouraged and given more patience and support from
instructors. Besides, as a late beginner, I was also confused as to why I could not
express music well with the piano, even if I could understand the music. I thinkcauses of this problem are multifaceted. It needs physiology, psychology, andeven psychiatry to explain in future research.

After three years of questionnaire research, I found the problems of late andearly beginners and the problems that teachers have perceived in piano education.
By comparing and analysing the problems in students and instructors, I have96

sought out the problems that students urgently need to be solved. To solve these
problems, we need not only modern piano method research as a reference, butalso a clear understanding of the origin and development of piano playing.
Thereupon, we must reexplore the development of piano methods and pedagogies
in the past three centuries to learn if any scientific and reasonable methods could
be used for adolescent beginners.

3.3 Piano Lesson Audit Report

The previous three surveys have shown us the difficulties that many students
encounter in piano practice and the confusion of teachers in teaching. However,
how do teachers guide students who start late in the real educational environment?
What are the problems faced by these students? How do they feel about learning?
Therefore, to listen to other instructor’s piano lesson be an important study. As
an auditor, we can enter the role of teacher and student from the other instructor’sclass and think from students’ perspectives. When we listen to other instructors'
lessons, we can think about how to face adolescent beginners if we are the teacher.
We can find the advantages and disadvantages of the pedagogies through other
instructors to improve our teaching theory and experience. In addition, we canfind the typical and universal problems in other instructors' teaching by looking
at the overall situation. Therefore, it is of great reference value for improving our
teaching methods to learn from the characteristics of other instructors and findthe shortcomings of students. Thus, in order to get more survey feedback and97verify the results obtained in the questionnaires, I have audited the non-speciality
piano student lessons during October – December 2018. There were sevenstudents’ lessons I have audited.

Table 3.10
The information about the students
Student
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

Grade
3
3
2
1
2
1
1

Piano Starting AgeAge 9
Age 5 (age 14 – 16 blank*, restarted age 17)
Age 16
Age 5 (one month learned, restarted age 17)
Age 15
Age 4 (age 15 blank*)
Age 16

Note: “Blank” means the student did not study the piano during that period.

The audited students are all female students and come from the Elisabeth
University of Music. They almost all started learning piano after age ten, except
students B, D, and F. However, although students B, D, and F started learning
piano before age ten, they are unfamiliar with the keyboard and cannot control
their fingers well. Next, I will introduce the class situation of these students
separately.

Student A started piano at age 9 and graduated from music high school. She
has studied lots of works written by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Czerny, but
she has not played any of Chopin’s etudes yet. Her teacher planned to give her a
new Debussy piece, Children’s Corner, No. 1 Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum.
When she started to study music, she used a Japanese textbook. On the other hand,98I observed the following problems and difficulties when she plays the piano, andthis includes some information obtained after I interviewed her: 1) The third
joints of her fingers are still weak, and she did not use CM joint correctly; 2) theleft hand plays the wrong bass notes and harmony frequently; 3) there is poor
balance of both right and left hands, and the melody of the right hand cannot beheard clearly; 3) when playing slowly many more wrong notes occur; 4) after
keystroke, the wrists move forward and upward. The instructor gave thefollowing practice advice: 1) Find the cadence in order to know the bass of theleft hand; 2) play the bass and melody only; 3) find the different themes; 4)analyse the different voices; 5) explain the meaning of music terms.

Student B started piano at age 5, but she had a hiatus from 14 ~ 16 years old
and restarted at age 17. She has learned to play Beyer, Hanon, and Czerny. The
following are problems and difficulties that I observed when she plays the piano,
and it includes some information obtained after I interviewed her: 1) Although
she has a good hand posture, the utilisation of arms is still a problem; 2) it isdifficult to use the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers; 3) it is difficult to balance two hands.
In the lesson, the instructor gave the following practice advice: 1) Analyse thetonality; 2) play with forte; 3) explain the phrases; 4) count the rhythm. After thelesson, I interviewed the instructor. She thought that the most significant
difference between piano minor students and major students is that piano minor
students do not know their situation and condition well, but the major students
know it better.
99

Student C started piano at age 16, and she has studied three years until now
and has studied Hannon and Czerny. Student C wants to be an elementary school
teacher; hence, she must participate in the test, for which she needs to play aclassical work and two accompaniments. Her teacher often uses physical finger
exercises, which is the Mikimoto method introduced in Chapter V, and strictly
requires playing posture. I audited student C’s lesson five times and observed herchanges and progress under the teacher’s scientific guidelines. For the first time,
it was found that the student is weak when using the PIP joint of the finger, but
her hand posture is correct. Moreover, she depresses the pedal loudly, and herupper arms, shoulders, and upper body look very stiff. The teacher’s strategies
are the following: 1) The waist supports the body well, and other parts of the
body are stable, so depress the pedal with the ankle to reduce the pedal noise,and practice only with the left hand and the pedal; 2) for the jump technique,keep the body stable and practice with the elbows, and practice with various
rhythms, The eyes should notice the left hand (because of the left-hand jumps);
3) think about the music’s theme.

The instructor noticed a new problem in the second lesson. Student C played
keys by pushing the from the wrist and using the MCP joint. At this time, theinstructor fixed her fingering and taught her how to concentrate the power to thefingertip to improve the student’s weak fingers. At the end of this lesson, theteacher helped the student understand the music’s melody and dynamic changes.
However, the teacher did not suggest to her how to perform keystrokes by using100the MCP joint.

In the third lesson, in order to help understand the harmonic colour of themusic, the teacher improved student C’s tone colour, but her left hand still could
not play fluently. Thus, the instructor corrected her pedal again and explained
how to play the phrases. After the lesson, the teacher told me the piano minor
students do not have to practice too much with the fifth finger, but the piano
major students have to do so.

In the fourth lesson, a problem I found in student C is that her DIP joint
depresses inward, and it happened in the second and third fingers of the left hand,
and the second and fourth fingers of the right hand. Also, when she strikes thekeys, her fingers do not make it to the bottom of the key bed completely. However,in this case, her DIP joint is not depressed inward. Furthermore, during the lesson,
she told me that she feels it is difficult to play different things with both hands,
and I found that when she plays different things with two hands, her body is
unstable. Her instructor has emphasised the function of the ears this time anddescribed the way to express a long phrase.

In the last lesson, student C has got to know the music well, and the instructor
guided her in the following ways: 1) When playing parts like arpeggios, theshoulder and upper arm should be relaxed; 2) explain the movement direction
and method of both hands; 3) the body should be stable because it is a pivot; 4)101

memorise the piece as soon as possible. After five lessons, student C madesignificant progress, but the coordination of the playing apparatus is still not ideal.
The instructor talked a lot about using the body because the teacher values thesignificance of playing posture and helps the student understand music. The
student can practice competently for a short time, and the effect is apparent.

Student D started piano at age 5 but only studied for one month, and then she
restarted it at age 17 when she was a first-grade university student. She neverused systematic teaching materials, only played some of Burgmüller’s pieces,and never learned Hanon until university. In her lesson, I found she plays the
piano with good hand posture, and her coordination is more natural than otherstudents mentioned above. However, there were several problems with her left
hand, such as the fingering and a lack of control. Her teacher’s teaching method
is as follows: 1) For scales, have the student practice with a single hand andobserve the fingering; 2) when playing the scale, the student should keep thewrist and forearm stable; 3) help students understand music in terms of rhythm,
music terminology, etc.

Student E started piano at age 15, and she wants to be a kindergarten teacher.
So far, she has played the works of Hanon, Czerny, Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach.
Perhaps the student learned different kinds of pieces. She has a good hand posture,
and when she plays the piano, her fingers can stand on the keys. However, one
thing I noticed is that her balance does not seem good while she plays with both102

hands. Thus, the teacher gave various music ideas in this class, including musicterminology, and analysed the musical phrases.

Student F started piano at age 4, and she did not learn the piano in the third
grade of middle high school. This student likes to play pop music, hence shenever played Bach or Chopin, but she has learned Bastian and Burgmüller.
However, she told me that she had to look at her hand to play or else she makes
many mistakes. Besides, I found that her fifth finger cannot support the hand,and her DIP joint is weak, though her hand posture is good. The teacher’s method
for the student is correcting the fingering, finding the tonality, and helping herinterpret the music texture.

Student G started piano at age 6 when she was in the third grade of highschool, and she has studied several sonatinas. I found she has two big problems.
One is that her MCP joint did not support her hand; the other is that she isconfused with fingering. Also, she has the same problem as Student F: her eyes
are on her hands instead of the score. Her teacher’s strategies are as follows: havethe students practice the scales with different rhythms to correct fingering
mistakes; find the tonality and emphasise that she should look at the score while
playing the piano.

As can be seen from the class of the seven students, many problems that
occurred in fingers can be attributed to incorrect hand posture and bad103coordination of the muscles. As for the balance problem, first of all, it is causedby the influence of proprioception in adolescent development. Secondly, students
pay too much attention to using small muscles but ignore overall coordination.
Additionally, the piano learning period impacts the brain’s feedback. Whenlearning for a long time, it is easy to form a non-conditional reflex. Conversely,
a short period of study or practice cannot stimulate the brain to produce reactions
quickly, which requires more training. However, the adolescent beginners canform a non-conditional reflex in obtaining information from music scores as verysoon if they start training with music theory. Furthermore, in the aspects ofbalance and coordination, the early beginners seem better than the adolescent
beginners, and when it comes to hand posture as well. Additionally, I found thatteachers usually guide the piano minors in a strategy that solves the techniqueproblems as early as possible, then help students to study musicality later.
However, as we will see in the next chapter, this strategy does not seem to be areasonable approach for late beginners.

104

Chapter IV: Piano Methods and Pedagogies for
Adolescent Beginners in the Past Three Centuries
This chapter will introduce more than thirty representative keyboard
pedagogy and method books during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Thesemethod and pedagogy books are written by pianists and educators such as F.
Couperin, C.P.E. Bach, M. Clementi, J.N. Hummel, C. Czerny, F. W. M.
Kalkbrenner, and G. Sándor. I searched for methods and pedagogies that can beavailable to adolescent beginners through researching those books. This sampling
can show us the evolution of piano methods and the revelatory scientific methods
and pedagogies they employed.

In the 18th century, Couperin was a pioneer of piano methods because of his
advanced opinions concerning technique, such as playing the keyboard by using
the wrist. Moreover, he emphasised posture and limb relaxation. Couperin
realised the influence of gender differences and age on piano playing. This
viewpoint shows the great foresight Couperin had in matters essential to piano
playing. After Couperin, revolutionary developments in the mechanics andorganization of keyboards occurred, and it had an enormous impact on thedevelopment of keyboard methods. In the 19th century a lot of piano methods forthe practice of basic techniques arose, and simultaneously, many physical fingers
exercise devices were created to improve finger function. We can see a105burgeoning demand for improved methods in this century. Moreover, Deppe put
forward a theory of muscular synergy; then Breithaupt established arevolutionary method school named “weight-touch.” These two methods changed
and accelerated the improvement of old German school methods, and they
provided more reasonable and natural methods for piano playing. At the end of
the 19th century, with the development of technology, the application of physics,
physiology, and psychology was brought into piano methods. There are several
representative researchers, such as Matthay and Ortmann. They focus on thenature of physical movements, including utilising body levers and arm motion
patterns. Especially, Ortmann has explained weight-touch and proved the scienceof weight-transfer through experiments. Furthermore, he also emphasised thefunction and importance of psychology in piano playing. Unfortunately, this viewhas only been put forward and has not been proved by his research. Since the20th century, modern experiments have verified plenty of past theories andhypotheses, such as weight-touch, weight transfer, and the interrelations between
small and large muscles. Even those experiments have analysed the arm and hand
movements using basic mechanics and lever principles, but the results are notsystematically and scientifically used for piano education. Additionally, in recent
years, more and more scientists and educators have been turning to neuroscience
for answers and dedicating themselves to unravelling the mysteries of piano
playing. Thus, the research on piano playing methods and pedagogies continues
and is becoming more scientific and humane. With the rapid development of106technology in this information age, it is urgent to find a systematic and scientificpractice method for adolescent beginners. However, all this needs to be
developed based on history, so it has become a top priority to find methods thatcan be applied to adolescent beginners in the past three centuries.

I studied the following method and pedagogy books, and the relevant
contents were selected and summarised, such as hand position, scales, arpeggios,
harmony, muscle use, and other key elements. Then I classified them into four
aspects: “performance posture”, “basic techniques”, “musical theory”, and“physiological viewpoint”. Finally, I summarised the general trends in piano
practice methods and pedagogies across three centuries. Thus, we can learn frompast and current piano education practices and find the best methods foradolescent beginners going forward.

The 18th Century:
1. Couperin, François. (1717) L’art de toucher du clavecin.
English Version: The Art of Playing the Harpsichord (1974).
2. Rameau, Jean-Philippe. (1724) Méthodes pour la mécanique des doigts ou
l’on enseigne les moyens de se procurer.
3. Forkel, Johannes Nikolaus. (1802) Über Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben,
Kunst und Kunstwerke: Für patriotische Verehrer echter musikalischer Kunst.
English Version: The Life, Art and Artistic Works of Johann Sebastian Bach
(1920).
4. Bach, C.P.E. (1753) Versuch über die wahre Art, das Clavier zu spielen.
(English Version: Essay on the valid method of playing the clavier (1949).)
5. Hook, James. (1785) Guide di music
6. Türk,

DanielGottlob.

(1789)

Klavierschuleoder Anweisungzum

Klavierspielen für Lehrer, mit kritischen Anmerkungen.
107

7. Dussek, Jan Ladislav. (1796) Dussek’s Instructions on the Art of Playing the
piano Forte or Harpsichord.
8. Milchmeyer, Jan Peter. (1797) Die wahre Art das Pianoforte zu spielen.

The 19th Century:
1. Clementi, Muzio. (1803) Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano
Forte: Containing the Elements of Music, Preliminary Notion on Fingering,and Fifty Fingered Lessons.
2. Adam, Louis. (1804) Méthode de piano du Conservatoire.
3. Graupner, Gottlieb. (1806) Rudiments of the Art of Playing on the Piano
Forte.
4. Steibelt, Daniel. (1805) Méthode de piano.
5. Logier, Johann Bernhard. (1827). A System of the Science of Music andPractical Composition.
6. Hummel, Johann Nepomuk. (1828) Ausführliche theoretisch-praktische
Anweisung zum Piano-Forte-Spiel.
English Version: A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction
on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte (1828).
7. Czerny, Carl. (1839) Pianoforte Schule.
8. Kalkbrenner, Friedrich Wilhelm Michael. (1830) Méthode pour apprendre lepiano à l’aide du guide-mains.
9. Latour, Jean Théodore. (1832) New and Improved Method of Instruction for
the Pianoforte.
10. Hünten, Franz. (1833) Méthode de piano.
11. Herz, Henri. (1838) Méthode complète de piano.
English Version: New and Complete Piano-forte School (1844).
12. Bertini, Henri Jerome. (1848) A Progressive and Complete Method for the
Piano-forte.
13. Spencer, Charles Child. (1853) The Rudiments of the Art of Playing the
Pianoforte.
14. Richardson, Nathan. (1859) New Method for the Piano-forte.
15. Plaidy, Louis. (1852) Technische Studien für das Pianoforte spiel.
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English Version: Technical Studies for the Piano (1875).
16. Pauer, Ernst. (1877) The Art of Pianoforte Playing.

The 20th Century:
1. Brée, Malwine. (1902) The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method.
2. Caland, Elisabeth. (1903) Artistic Piano Playing as Taught by Ludwig Deppe.
3. Philipp, Isidor. (1908) Complete School of Technic for the Pianoforte.
4. Breithaupt, Rudolf Maria. (1909) Natural Piano Technique Vol. 2: School of
Weight-Touch-Natural Piano Technic.
5. Ortmann, Otto. (1929) The Physiological Mechanics of Piano Technique.
6. Matthay, Tobias. (1932) The Visible and Invisible in Pianoforte Technique.
7. Newman, William Stein. (1956) The Pianist’s Problems.
8. Whiteside, Abby. (1961) Indispensables of Piano Playing.
9. Gát, József. (1968) The Technique of Piano Playing.
10. Sándor, György. (1982) On Piano Playing: Motion, Sound and Expression.
11. Fassina, Jean. (2000) Lettre à jeune pianiste.

4.1 Introduction to Piano Methods in the 18th Century

Before the 18th century, there were few keyboard pedagogies. Girolamo
Diruta9 wrote a vital treatise, II Transilvano, and it is the first keyboard pedagogy
written in Italy. It includes two parts, the first part published in 1593, anotherpart in 1609. This book is written in the form of a dialogue between Diruta andTransylvanian 10. In Part I, Diruta explains brief music theory concepts, hand andfinger position, the function of the arm, keyboard attack, using fingers,

9Girolamo Diruta (around 1546 – 1625), Italian organist, teacher, and music theorist.

10

Referring to the prince of Transylvania, Sigismund Báthory (1573-1613).

109

ornaments, and fingerings; he also supplemented with 13 Toccatas for practice.
In Part II, Diruta supplements with many musical examples and illustrates how
to play them. II Transilvano, as the first keyboard manual, not only influenced
the late 16th-century Venetian school of keyboard music but also played anessential role during the history of Western keyboard music. Moreover, II
Transilvano talked about the organ’s methods and pedagogies. With the
emergence of more and more keyboard instruments during the 18th century,
methods and pedagogies were also at a new height.

There are three categories of keyboard instruments. The first category is thestring keyboard, which includes three keyboard instruments: 1) Harpsichord andspinet, which are sounded by plucking strings; 2) clavichord and piano, which
are sounded by striking strings; 3) bowed clavier, which is sounded by bowing
strings. The second category is the organ. There are two types of organs: flue
pipes and reed pipes. The former’s sound is made by air vibration; the latter’s ismade by reed vibration. The third category is carillon and glockenspiel. Carillon
is usually used in church, and the sound is made by metal clappers striking thebells; glockenspiel is a kind of percussion instrument like the xylophone. Amongthese keyboard instruments, harpsichord and clavichord were widely usedthrough the Renaissance and Baroque. Plenty of composers composed lots ofmusic for harpsichord and clavichord, such as D. Scarlatti, who composed around555 harpsichord sonatas; F. Couperin, who wrote the famous method work in
1717, “L’art de toucher le clavecin”, which illustrated how to play the110harpsichord and is one of the earliest-known keyboard pedagogies; C.P.E. Bach,who composed many sonatas, most of them for clavichord like his famous lateclavichord sonata collections “Kenner und Liebhaber” sonatas, Wq. 55-59 and61, composed during 1758 – 1786; J.L. Dussek, who composed many keyboard
works including sonatas, ensembles, and concertos, and who collaborated withkeyboard builders to advance keyboard design. These educators and musicians
not only contributed to musical creation but also suggested practice strategies forstudents. As a sample from the 18th century, I have selected eight representative
methods from François Couperin, Jean Philippe Rameau, Johann Sebastian Bach,Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, James Hook, Daniel Gottlob Türk, Jan Ladislav
Dussek, and Johann Peter Milchmeyer. Because we are still using their methods
nowadays, they have been influencing the development of piano performance
profoundly until now.

In F. Couperin’s 11 book, Couperin mentions how to sit when playing the
keyboard, body position, and finger position. Moreover, he discusses how to put
the hands on the keyboard and the elbow and wrist position. He emphasizes that
players should often and freely use the first finger (thumb). This was an advanced
viewpoint in his age. Then he recommends how to correct wrists when
keyboardists have too high of a wrist position. (Couperin, 1974) In his method
book, there is an important central thought: As good grace is necessary, one must

11

François Couperin (1668-1733) was a French composer, organist and harpsichordist.

111begin with the position of the body. 12 There were only a few teachers who
mentioned these teaching methods at that time. Therefore, it can be said that
Couperin’s method was very advanced in his day. In particular, Couperin
mentions two interrelated physiological considerations: muscle development andmemorisation. Couperin noticed the influence of gender differences and age on
those starting to learn keyboard instruments. He thinks the late beginners andmale students usually have stiff hands. This insight is also scientifically advanced
in his age. Of course, he also wrote how to practise basic techniques, but there
was no mention of scale and arpeggio exercises. (Couperin, 1974) The reason isconsidered to be the structure of keyboard instruments, because the keyboard was
short and small register, it was unnecessary to play too much wide arpeggios andscales.

J.- Ph. Rameau 13, J. Hook14, and J.L. Dussek15 mention basic techniques, but
only Dussek (1796) mentions how to practice both scales and arpeggios; Rameau

12

Couperin, François. (1974) The Art of Playing the Harpsichord. New York: Alfred Music

Publishing. p. 29
13

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was a French composer and music theorist. He is considered

the leading French composer for the harpsichord after Couperin.
14James Hook (1746-1827) was an English composer and organist. He wrote four pedagogical works.

The Guida di musica Op. 37 (1785) and the New Guida di musica Op. 81 (1796) are for beginners;
the Guida di musica, Second Part Op. 75 (1794) and The Preceptor for the Piano-Forte, Organ orHarpsichord (1795) are for learning fingering and some progressive lessons.
15

Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812) was a Czech predecessor of romantic period composer andpianist. He also helped Broadwood company to develop piano.

112

(1724) does not mention scales and arpeggios, and Hook (1785) only mentions
scales. The reason is that the instrument they used does not have a wide register.
The three of them just wrote a few words about playing posture, and only Dussek(1796) discusses music theory. In addition, Rameau (1724) explains that players
should raise their fingers as much as possible when practising trills and should
let them be relaxed and flexible. It might be the earliest discourse on finger
independence and could be the beginning of the high finger school.

J. S. Bach’s method 16 is representative of the 18th century, and his family’s
methods are similar, almost all of which mention hand and finger position, handbridge, and talk about basic techniques, although they do not talk much aboutscales and arpeggios. On the other hand, the Bach family’s methods mentioned
muscular relaxation, which was scientific. C.P.E. Bach said, in playing, thefingers should be arched, and the muscles relaxed. 17 J.S. Bach recognized that
fingers’ lengths are different, and players are frequently seduced to use thestronger whenever they can readily do so.18 Consequently, J. S. Bach suggests
playing each note with an equal sound and having fingers practice passages inevery conceivable position. Moreover, Forkel (1802) said that J. S. Bach

16

The method book written by Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818), a German musician,musicologist, and music theorist.
17

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel. (1949) Essay on the true method of playing the clavier. New York:W. W. Norton. p. 42.
18

Forkel, Johannes Nikolaus. (1920) The Life, Art, and Artistic Works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

London: Constable and Company LTD. p. 53.

113

emphasizes the importance of the thumb because people seldom used theirthumbs to play the keyboard until the time of J.S Bach; furthermore, Bach points
out that the thumb functions as a central pivot when playing scales and arpeggios.

I want to introduce the last two critical methods in the 18th century from D.
G. Türk 19 and J.P. Milchmeyer 20. Türk inherited C. P. E. Bach’s theories, which
advocate arched fingers and relaxed muscles. In his book, Türk mentions postures,
fingering, and ornaments. Nevertheless, unlike C. P. E. Bach, Türk thinks the
body position should be slightly higher, the thumb should be straight, and that
other fingers should bend. (Türk, 1789) In Milchmeyer’s book, on the subject of“performance posture”, Milchmeyer mentions the position of the body, arms,
hands and fingers, but does not mention the wrists. On the subject of “basic
techniques”, Milchmeyer introduces many playing techniques that include almost
all the basic ones understood in his period. Finally, on the subject of “music
theory”, he summarizes and discusses musical expression in a whole chapter. One
more significant consideration Milchmeyer notes is the concept of “Weightplaying”. (Milchmeyer, 1797) As we know, Isaac Newton provided his gravity
theory at the end of the 17th century, and almost 100 years later, Michmeyer
mentions that the weight playing in his method involves using gravity in piano
playing. Nevertheless, the weight school was established in the 19th century.

19

Daniel Gottlob Türk (1750-1813), a German composer, organist, and music professor.

20

Johann Peter Milchmeyer (1750-1813) was a German court musician.

114

Therefore, it can be inferred that Michmeyer’s weight playing is probably a
precursor to the later weight school.

Here, I checked the contents of these method books and made Table 121.

21

France (FR), Germany (DE), United Kingdom (UK), Czech (CZ)

115

Table 4.1
The summary of the 18th century’s methods(FR) F.
Couperin

Body position
Hand position
andmovement
Wrist-use
Fingerposition andmovement
Arm position
andmovement
Touch
Scale
Arpeggio
Intervals(double-notes,
octave)ChordsRhythmPhrasing
Ornaments
Fingering
Shake(Tremolo)
Pedal
Musical terms
Note, Mark,
Solmization
Muscular,relaxation
Weight-use
Sight reading
Skeleton
Memorisation(FR)
J.-Ph.
Rameau

(DE)
J.S.
Bach

(DE)
C.P.E.
Bach

(UK)
J.
Hook

(DE)
D. G.
Türk

(CZ)
J.L.
Dussek

◯

(DE)
J.P.
Milchmeyer
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯
◯

◯
◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯
*Made by the author

116

Piano pedagogy had plenty of creative developments in the 18th century.
From Table 4.1, we can see that more pedagogies mentioned music theory, andthe discussion of basic techniques was comprehensive. After the middle of the
18th century, intervals, chords, ornaments and fingering, scales, arpeggios, andpedalling were mentioned more frequently. That is because with the developmentof keyboard instruments, musicians could make more beautiful and subtle sounds.
Therefore, more and more new techniques developed rapidly. Meanwhile, theinnovation of keyboard instruments also brought a great deal of innovation todifferent aspects of pedagogy and led to keyboard instrument methods boomingin the 19th century. Furthermore, only such as J. S. Bach and Couperin mentioned
scientific conceptions in their methods. However, the situation was completely
different in the 19th century.

4.2 Introduction to Piano Methods in the 19th Century

The most pivotal development in the 18th century was Bartolomeo
Cristofori’s invention of the pianoforte in Italy. The tremendous success of his
piano is owed to its mechanism that produces the sound by striking strings witha hammer. Due to the piano’s mechanical characteristics, it brought more
possibilities to musicians. Thus, the piano instrument flourished from the late
18th century and was popularized from the 19th century. On the other hand,plenty of piano techniques arose to help musicians to show the piano’s different
kinds of sonorities, which in turn caused more and more learning methods to be117

created. Piano learners had to learn more techniques they had never encountered
before requiring more practice and guidance. Thus, as we can see, many new
pedagogies and methods were produced in the 19th century. Simultaneously,
several auxiliary devices were invented for practising with fingers, wrists, arms
to help strengthen fingers and correct positioning. Among them, Chiroplast,
Dactylion, and Digitorium achieved cult status during the 19th century.

Chiroplast is equipment to help beginners correct the position of hands,
invented by Johann Bernhard Logier 22 in 1814. (See Figure 4.1) Logier also
wrote a method book System der Musikwissenschaft in 1827, which illustrated
music theory and the principles of harmony.

Figure 4.1
Chiroplast

Source: New York Public Library / Science Source. Re: Chiroplast, Designed to Train
Pianists.

22

Retrievedfromhttps://www.sciencesource.com/archive/Image/Chiroplast--

Johann Bernhard Logier (1777-1846), a German composer, educator, inventor and publisher.

118

Designed-to-Train-PianistsSS2607562.html#/SearchResult&ITEMID=SS2607562&POPUPPN=1&POPUPIID=2OPE
BMR87U1O (Accessed on Feb 13, 2021)

Dactylion is equipment to help strengthen and relax fingers, invented byHenri Herz 23 in 1836. (See Figure 4.2 and 4.3)

Figure 4.2
Dactylion (a)23Henri Herz (1803-1888) a pianist and composer. He was born in Austria and moved to French.

119Figure 4.3
Dactylion (b)Source (Figure 4.2 and 4.3): Predota, Georg (2018, June 20th). Re: The Dactylion. Retrieved
from https://interlude.hk/dactylion/ (Accessed on Feb 13, 2021)

Digitorium, also called Dumb Piano, which strengthens and improves fingers’
flexibility, was invented by Myer Mark around the middle of the 19th century.
(See Figure 4.4) The equipment was sold to amateur pianists.

120

Figure 4.4
Digitorium

Source: Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (2001, Dec 1st). Re: Digitorium finger
exercise machine. Retrieved from https://collection.maas.museum/object/9739(Accessed on Feb 13, 2021)

The three pieces of equipment above were the most popular physical exercise
apparatuses during the 19th century. Beyond that, other exercise apparatuses had
also been invented in this period, such as Hand-Guide, which Kalkbrenner
invented; Brotherhood Technicon, which James Brotherhood invented for arm
and wrist exercise; and Chirogymnast invented by Casimir Martin for improving
hand control. However, everything has two sides. Although these apparatuses canhelp strengthen fingers and obtain good physical training, if players misuse themthe opposite effect will occur. As we all know, Schumann got his finger paralysis
because he overused a finger exercise apparatus Dactylion (Sams, 1971). Hence,
one should not merely pursue results and blindly practice with the fingers.

121Without awareness of physical and physiological principles, using those exercise
apparatuses probably makes a player’s hand or finger get irreversible damage,which once again proves that creating a reasonable, scientific method andpedagogy is urgently needed.

During the 19th century, sixteen representative methods were selected. They
are the method of Muzio Clementi, Louis Adam, Gottlieb Graupner, Daniel
Steibelt, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Carl Czerny, Friedrich Wilhelm Michael
Kalkbrenner, Frederic Chopin, Jean Théodore Latour, Franz Hünten, Henri Herz,
Henri Jerome Bertini, Charles Child Spencer, Nathan Richardson, Louis Plaidy,
Theodor Leschetizky, and Ludiwig Deppe.

Clementi 24 starts with a brief music theory, and following that, he talks about
integrated basic piano techniques. Concerning body position, it is worth
mentioning that Clementi realised that when playing the piano, unnecessary
motions should be avoided. (Clementi, 1803) This concept, which we call“economical playing” is very important in contemporary piano education because
unnecessary motions need other muscles to work so that leads wrists or arms to
get fatigued quickly. This is going to be discussed in Chapter V. In the end of thebook, Clementi provided fifty preludes include his own pieces and works by othermusicians such as Handel, Corelli, Mozart, Couperin, Pleyel, Dussek, Rameau,

24

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) was an Italian-born British composer, pianist, conductor music

publisher and piano manufacturer. He most influenced Beethoven and Chopin.

122

Scarlatti, Cramer, Beethoven, C. P. E. Bach, and J. S. Bach, for helping students
remember the keys. In addition, he completed an excellent work, Gradus ad
Parnassum, in 1817. It includes one hundred etudes and covers all kinds of piano
techniques at that age. (Clementi, 1803) Before Chopin’s etude, Gradus ad
Parnassum was called “Piano Techniques Encyclopaedia”. He developed legato
touch and influenced later musicians, especially Beethoven and Chopin. Also, his
famous student, Johann Baptist Cramer, was influenced by him and took thetechnique of “legato” to a further step.

Cramer 25 does not leave any theoretical pedagogy works, but his pianostudies and sonatas are a precious heritage in piano education. His famous study
for piano is Studio per il pianoforte (also named 84 Études in Four Books).
Beethoven thought the etudes were an outstanding preparation before playing his
sonatas, and Schindler even said that:

Our master declared that Cramer’s Etudes were the chief basis of all genuine
playing. If he had ever carried out his own intention of writing a pianoforte
method, the etudes would have formed in it the most important part of thepractical examples, for on account of the polyphony predominant in many ofthem, he looked upon them as the most fitting preparation for his own works. 26

25

Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858) was an English pianist and composer. The disciple ofClementi.
26

Schindler, Anton Felix. (1996) Beethoven as I Knew Him. North Chelmsford: Courier Corporation.

P. 182.

123

According to Beethoven’s statement, the Studio per il pianoforte inherited thepolyphony of Bach and Scarlatti, and it profoundly influenced Chopin, Schumann,and Busoni. That is the reason we are still using his studies in piano education
until today. Because of its guiding effect in history, I recommend practising
Studio per il pianoforte during the primary stage of adolescent beginners’ studies.

Louis Adam 27 cultivated lots of notable disciples, and the most famous one
is Friedrich Kalkbrenner. I will introduce his pedagogy later. Méthode de piano
du Conservatoire is Adam’s important work which advanced piano techniques inFrance. At the beginning of the book, Adam (1804) discussed body position, andfinger position and movement; significantly, he talked about the position of thethumb and little finger, and also discussed when one should use the arm. It is thefirst book I found that noted arm position and movement. Concerning arm
position, he said:

Tout mouvement des bras qui n’est pas absolument nécessaire est
préjudiciable à l’exécution. On n’en peut admettre que de deux espèces ; l’un,lorsqu’on quitte le clavier pour observer les pauses ; l’autre, quand il fautporter la main de droite à gauche ou de gauche à droite pour prendre d’autres
positions : l’avant-bras seul doit agir, la partie depuis l’épaule jusqu’au
coude doit rester immobile. 28

27Louis Adam (1758-1848) was a French composer, music teacher and pianist. He was a professor

at the Conservatoire de Paris.
28

Adam, Louis. (1804) Méthode de piano du conservatoire. Paris: L. Marchand. P. 5.

124

Adam mentioned that unnecessary movements of the arm should be avoided,and one can use the arm in the following two situations: 1) when fingers leave
the keyboard to take a break; 2) when it is necessary to carry the hand from rightto left or from left to right on the keyboard (Only the forearm should do the action;
the part from the shoulder to the elbow must remain immobile). Additionally, healso elucidated basic piano techniques, and provided a comprehensive practicemethod for students. (Adam, 1804) According to Adam, awareness of muscle
synergy and using body leverage are critical for efficient piano playing. On theother hand, Adam’s methods were influenced by the thoughts of Couperin, which
use more locomotive organs to play the piano.

Gottlieb Graupner’s29 method is similar to that of Clementi. He published apiano pedagogy, Rudiments of the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte, in 1806.
However, this method is not his original method, which quotes the contents ofearlier books written by Dussek and Clementi. Therefore, this method is an
integrated pedagogy. Graupner took the core part of both pedagogies, which
includes music theory, basic techniques, and especially the multiple types ofscale practice (Graupner, 1806). The method of scale practice with two hands incontrary motion is mentioned for the first time in piano education history. At theend of the method, Graupner provided many practice fragments, including
repeated notes, thirds, octaves, trills, and gave finger numbers for chords.

29

Gottlieb Graupner (1767-1836) was a German born, American musician, educator, and publisher.

125

Besides that, he also wrote thirty lessons for finger practice with difficulty
ranging from easy to hard, which appear to be based on Beyer’s method.
(Graupner, 1806) Overall, his method emphasised finger movements andprovided a way to enhance finger functions and is an available method for late
beginners.

Daniel Steibelt 30 talked about the advantages of the pianoforte at the
beginning of his method. He suggested that beginners should first learn piano
structure and play good sounds. (Steibelt, 1805) This method reveals that Steibelt
wants to train students’ solfeggio in the initial stage, and he thinks it is important.
Steibelt then went on to discuss his method’s approach to music theory. Next, hediscussed posture. He emphasised hands position, how to move fingers and finger
independence, and provided practice strategies for scales. At the end of themethod, he mentioned some rules of finger position and utilization again.
(Steibelt, 1805) Furthermore, he told us what the fundamental role of the fingeris,

Die ist die Sache der Finger, die durch die Tasten und die Hämmer die Seele
des Komponisten und die Empfindungen des Spielers den Saiten mittheilensollen. 31

30

Daniel Steibelt (1765-1823) was a German pianist and composer. He studied music with Johann

Kirnberger (the pupil of J.S.Bach ) during his early life.
31

Steibelt, Daniel. (1805) Méthode de piano. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. P. 55.

126

He introduced a viewpoint well ahead of its time, which has influenced ourmodern scientific teaching methods,

Man muss alles Unmaß vermeiden. Keine Steifheit, ein edler Anstand wird
gefordert. Die erste schadet dem Ausdruck, die zweite verschönert. Der
Lehrling merke sich folgende Regeln des Vortrages. 32
Overall, this viewpoint is consistent with the modern economical and efficientpiano method. In a profound sense, it tells students that they should just use thenecessary muscles and pay attention to their body coordination. In other words,
it focuses on muscle synergy and saving energy. In general, Steibelt’s method
emphasised reasonable finger use and advanced the scientific viewpoint in piano
education, which provided more efficient practice methods for piano students.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and pianist. When he
was young, he studied music with W. A. Mozart. After that, he studied with M.
Clementi and J. Haydn. Hummel can be called an Olympic trainer in the piano
field because he cultivated many pianists and composers, such as S. Thalberg33,
A. v. Henselt 34 and C. Czerny 35 . Also, he had a profound influence on thecompositions of F. Chopin and R. Schumann. For example, the style of Chopin’s

32

Ibid.

33

Sigismond Thalberg (1812-1871) was a Swiss composer and pianist who wild known during the

19th century.
34

Adolf von Henselt (1814-1889) was a German composer and pianist.

35

After studied with Beethoven, Czerny have transferred to study with Hummel.

127

piano concertos was influenced by Hummel; in Hummel’s piano sonata Op. 81,
we can directly find the many factors that influenced the music of Chopin andSchumann. Hummel’s music spans the classical and romantic periods. What ismore, he worked under the guidance of masters in the classical period andprofoundly impacted the compositional style of essential composers in theromantic period. Consequently, as far as I am concerned, his status is as important
as Beethoven.

Before talking about Hummel further, as an aside it is worth discussing
Henselt, an important student of his. Henselt profoundly impacted the musiceducation world. Henselt taught piano in the Saint Petersburg Conservatory as
the second director after Anton Rubinstein. His piano etudes were very popular
at that time, and it was valuable to practice them before studying the etudes of
Liszt and Chopin. Henselt’s etudes include two works: Op. 2 “Études
Caractéristiques” and Op. 5 “Études de Salon”, altogether totalling twenty-four
etudes, each piece with its own title. These etudes are not only for technicalpractice but also for studying musical expression. For these reasons, I
recommend that each late beginner studies his etudes carefully. In addition, there
are two famous second-generation pupils of Henselt: S. Rachmaninoff and A.
Scriabin.

Hummel published A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of
Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte in 1828, which includes three128

parts. It is a novel and comprehensive method book which impacted profoundly
piano education at that time, and even now. This book includes a creative
fingering system and combines practical practice with theoretical knowledge. At
the beginning of Hummel’s book, it is the first piano method book to mention
what parents should do to help their children in piano learning, and to remark on
what is a qualified instructor should be like. Hummel said,

Girls should not be taught music before 7 years of age, nor boys before 8;
unless they should display a very remarkable degree of talent for it, and, in amanner, be led to it by the peculiar inclination arising therefrom. 36
Therefore, we can see Hummel considered the beginning age according to thepsychological problems of pupils and the situation of parents. This is advanced
and innovative for his time.

In the following chapters, Hummel introduced posture; music theory
including staves, clefs, notes, and music marks; also, he discussed fundamental
techniques. When Hummel discussed time and beat, he used diagrams to show
the relationship between time, beat, and hand movement. (Hummel, 1828) Thisis helpful to beginners for understanding beat intuitively and rapidly. At the endof Part I, Hummel wrote a supplemental chapter that selected past piano works
for beginners (Hummel, 1828). This chapter has a special value as a reference

36

Hummel, Johann Nepomuk. (1828) A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction

on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte. London: Boosey & Co. p. IV.

129

source for contemporary piano education and can help instructors choose thepieces for practice according to students’ learning conditions. In Part II, Hummelelaborated a new system of fingering. He emphasised the importance of fingering:

By Fingering is understood the correct and appropriate application of thefingers of both hands. This is founded on convenience, and neatness or
elegance of appearance, on which again depends, in a great degree, precisionand certainty of performance.37
Hummel (1828) also discussed thumb function and its importance within the ten
divisions of his fingering system (Proceeding, Passage, Omission, Substitution,
Extension, Usage of the thumb, Crossing, Changing, Placing, and Distribution).
Finally, in Part III, he provided plenty of practical exercises that include various
basic techniques for strengthening fingers, classified systematically.

To summarise, Hummel’s methods influenced a number of notable pianists;even pianists such as Schumann and Liszt wanted to be his students. His methodbook mentioned above is the most complete and comprehensive book in the early
19th century. His method also informed my theory for adolescent beginners,
which will be discussed in the next chapter.

37

Ibid., Part II, P. 1.

130

As one of the famous students of Hummel, Czerny 38 wrote a large number of
piano pieces for finger practice. His works are well known to piano students andteachers around the world. We can learn techniques from Czerny’s etudes and thebasics of music texture and harmony. In piano education, Czerny cultivated many
excellent musicians, such as F. Liszt and T. Leschetizky. I will talk about themethod of Leschetizky in the following parts, and he proves that Czerny’s piano
pedagogy is indeed excellent.

In 1839, Czerny published one unprecedented a masterwork, Complete
Theoretical and Practical Piano Forte School, Op. 500, which has three partsand contains almost all important elements in piano playing, including posture,
all kinds of techniques, music theory, sight-reading, and score memorisation.

At the beginning of the book, Czerny shared his viewpoint on the appropriate
age to begin piano,

Much the greater number of those who begin to learn the Piano - Forte consistof children of from 8 to 10 years of age; and in truth we ought to commence
as early as possible, if we wish to attain to any great degree of proficiency inplaying.39

38

Carl Czerny (1791-1857) was an Austrian composer, pianist and educator. He also studied with

Hummel.
39

Czerny, Carl. (1839) Complete Theoretical and Practical Piano Forte School, Op. 500. London:

R, Cocks & Co. Part I, Op. I.

131

We can see that Hummel and Czerny each mentioned the starting age for pianoat the beginning of their respective method books. According to Czerny’s words
above, we can find two things: First, people in the 19th century usually started
to learn piano much later than contemporary students (which is consistent withwhat Hummel wrote). Second, Czerny realised piano study should start as earlyas possible rather than the later age popular at that time, which means he alreadyfound the differences between early beginners and late beginners.

In the first part of the book, Czerny focused on students’ individual
differences and put forward some advice for beginners in different stages. Then,he discussed posture and music theory, which he illustrated with musicalexamples. The second part contains fingering and includes practical examples.
Finally, in the third part, he introduced musical expression; in other words, it
tells students how to play music. (Czerny, 1839) Czerny’s book is similar to
Hummel’s in the contents and structure, and we can see their methods fall withina heritage that progresses from Clementi to Hummel to Czerny. However,Czerny’s method is more comprehensive and detailed. Furthermore, in the age of
Czerny, the pianoforte had already come out. Therefore, we can infer that
Czerny’s method has more applicability today, and because of his understandingof individual and age differences, his etudes also can be used for adolescent
beginners. However, instructors need to research again to find out which pieceshould be learned first, and which should be the next.

132

Kalkbrenner40 was a pianist famous for his approach to touch, and he was astudent of L. Adam. As a teacher, Kalkbrenner published his piano method
Méthode pour apprendre le piano à l’aide du guide-mains in 1830. At the
beginning of his book he introduced his “Hand-guide” used for finger practice,which is like Chiroplast invented by Bernhard Logier in the early 19th century.
He said,

Après mille essais infructueux, l’idée me vint, que tout ce qui tient aumécanisme du Piano pouvait être étudié à l’aide d’un moyen mécanique, qui
donnât de prime abord aux mains leur véritable position. 41

He is probably the first person who proposed training fingers with an exercise
apparatus in his method book, and he also designed the following method to relax
the arm: Get an armchair, turn a chair arm towards the keyboard, pass the legs
under this chair arm, sit down, put forearms on the chair arm, and play the piano(Kalkbrenner, 1830). This method can relax the forearm and the wrist and isbased on a scientifically accurate understanding of the principle of leverage
within the fingers and hands.

40

Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (1785-1849) was a German born French pianist,composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer. Chopin considered to become his pupil in 1831,
but after his deliberations, he gave up. Kalkbrenner as a teacher was teaching in London and Paris.
41

Kalkbrenner, Friedrich Wilhelm Michael. (1830) Méthode pour apprendre le piano à l’aide duguide-mains. Paris: Chez I. Pleyel et Cie. P. 3, Préface.

133

In the following chapters, Kalkbrenner briefly illustrated music theory andsix basic piano playing techniques; he also advocated using more pedals to makedifferent sounds, which is reflected in his exquisite key touch (Kalkbrenner,1830). Even Chopin paid his enchanting key-touch extravagant compliments.
Actually, Kalkbrenner wanted Chopin to be his pupil, but unfortunately, Chopin
did not like the comments from Kalkbrenner about himself because Kalkbrenner
said Chopin’s style was like Cramer and his touch close to Field (Hedley, 1962).
Naturally, Chopin did not like the comments; thus, Chopin refused Kalkbrenner’s
invitation.

As we all know that Chopin was a virtuoso pianist and composer, he also
contributed to piano education, and his methods are worth examining. According
to Eigeldinger (1986), Chopin emphasised that hands and bodies should keep
softness and suppleness, which is a fundamental principle for each piano student.
He insisted that the wrist and arm will naturally acquire softness when the hand
becomes relaxed and supple. He considered physical exercise for relaxing thewrist necessary, and his exercise involved stretching the wrist repeatedly.
Regarding arm and elbow movement, Chopin suggested dropping the fingers
freely, and fingers actively lead arm movement. Meanwhile, the player should
avoid the help of arm weight. Chopin thinks this exercise also can improve finger
independence. Besides, Chopin focuses on key-touch identical to Kalkbrenner.
Therefore, while he is opposed to the old school view that finger strength should
be practised equally, he posited that the characteristics of each finger should be134preserved. He thought this is important in finger independence exercise. On theother hand, Chopin guided students practise scales starting from B major, thenaccording to the decrease of the key signature, practise C major at last. And
Chopin suggested students practise scales in staccato. He thought exercises
alternating between staccato and legato can improve accuracy because of muscle
memory. After the scale practice, students were required to practice arpeggios
and chromatic scales. Furthermore, Chopin urged his students to study music
theory as early as possible. (Eigeldinger, 1986)

From the above, Chopin’s extraordinary methods encourage students topractice the piano with more logical and reasonable strategies and to heedessential physiological characteristics of fingers. However, his perspective on
using arms seems to be still conservative until weight-touch school establish.
Nevertheless, it can still be seen that Chopin utilised hand weight in his key touch.

Additionally, Chopin’s educational repertoire is also worth considering foradolescent beginners. This is because most of the piano beginners among
Chopin’s students were not children. Table 4.2 summarises the works that Chopinrecommended his students to study (Eigeldinger, 1986).

135

Table 4.2
The works that Chopin recommended his students to study
ComposerJ.S. Bach
M. Clementi
J.B. Cramer
I. Moscheles

Work
Solo
•The Well-Tempered Clavier•Preludes and Exercises, Op. 43•Gradus ad Parnassum, Op. 44•84 Etudes•Charateristic Studies, Op. 95

J.N. Hummel•La Bella Capricciosa, Op.55•Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 81

L.v. Beethoven•Piano Sonata Op. 14/2, 26, 27/2, 57

C.M.v. Weber•Piano Sonata Op. 24, Op. 39•Aufforderung zum Tanze, Op. 65

F. Schubert
F. Mendelssohn•Waltzes, Ländler and Ecossaises•Song Without Words
Four-Hands

F. Schubert•Three Marches Militaries, D. 733•Polonaises•Divertissement à la hongroise, D. 818

I. Moscheles•Grand Sonata, Op. 47•Rondo brilliant for Piano Four-Hands, Op.30

J.N. Hummel•Grand Sonata, Op. 92•Nocturne for Four-Hands, Op. 99•Sonata for Four-Hands, Op. 51

Note: According to Chopin's pedagogies and his pupils, the works that Chopin choseand used for late beginners have been summarised. (Made by the author)

From Table 4.2, we can see that Chopin mostly focused on works withcantabile and modulations. Significantly, in such works as Moscheles’ andHummel’s, the player should sing the melody and simultaneously think about
modulations and finger movements. Furthermore, as we all know, Bach also plays
an essential role in piano pedagogy. However, Chopin and Bach have somedivergent opinions concerning fingers. While Bach thought five fingers should136

obtain equal practice, Chopin thought each finger’s unique qualities should bepreserved (Eigeldinger, 1986). On this point, I recommend that all adolescent
beginners pay attention to finger features and do not pay too much attention tofinger-strength training. After all, the source of finger strength is arm muscles,
which has been mentioned in Chapter II.

In addition, Chopin taught his primary level students using Clementi’s
Preludes and Exercises, Op. 43 and Gradus ad Parnassum, Op. 44, particularly
the Op. 43, and he first used songs with many key signatures like B major or D ♭ .
Then he guided students into Cramer’s 84 Etudes and Bach’s The Well-Tempered
Clavier, as well as the Characteristic Studies Op. 95 of Moscheles. Chopinthought that the works of Clementi, Bach, Hummel and Field are the best choice
for beginners, and Chopin thought that as long as their works are learned well,
his own works can be learned as the next step (Eigeldinger, 1986). Consequently,
Chopin’s pedagogy discussed above can be a reference for instructors whenteaching late beginners.

So far, among the method books mentioned above, we can find more andmore attempts to combine music theory and practical exercises. As Latour 42 saidin his method book New and Improved Method of Instruction for the Pianoforte,
there is a fundamental fault that music theory and practice are not sufficiently

42

Jean Théodore Latour (1766-1837) was a French pianist and composer. He wrote some piano

sonatinas for beginners and other several works be included in the books for students.

137

combined in piano education, which has caused many conceptional troubles forlearners, so that it is hard to practice the piano (Latour, 1832).

Latour explained that basic music theory includes notes, staves, clefs, time,rests, and sharp and flat marks in the first part of his method book. Also, hepointed out correct posture and supplemented a system of scale preparation
exercises. In the section on posture, Latour said that the distance from the piano
should keep the length of an arm and mentioned the position of the wrist.
Remarkably, he proposed a revolutionary concept: players should keep knuckles
flat on the keyboard. Moreover, he added that the three long fingers (index,
middle, and ring fingers) should be bent slightly while the little finger must be
straight. (Latour, 1832) Before Latour, most methods recommended that students
curve their knuckles and the little finger. However, after Latour, more and more
pianists and educators realised that bent fingers and flat knuckles should be used
together.

Part II is devoted to lessons and exercises. Latour wrote fifty-four lessons
for scale practice; however, all exercises’ key signatures containing no more than
three sharps or flats. We can find that Latour’s lessons make it difficult for
beginners to learn scales and arpeggios, because according to Chopin, the more
black keys, the more natural the hand position. Besides scales and arpeggios,
there are some lessons for practising triplets, Alberti bass, octaves, and intervals(thirds). The pieces in Latour’s lessons include simple harmonies. Furthermore,138

all the lessons have common point, which is that they are integrated with
explanations of music theory. At the end of Latour’s method book, he adds a listof musical terms. (Latour, 1832) Although Latour’s method seems not to bementioned frequently in history, his contributions, the flat knuckles and the
combination of practice and music theory in piano playing, influenced
subsequent methods.

The following method I want to discuss is Méthode de piano, written by
Franz Hünten 43. The structure of this method is similar to Latour’s, including
fundamental music theory and plenty of lessons for practising basic techniques.

At the beginning of the method, Hünten introduced elementary music theory,
which is divided into two sections: “The principle of key touch” and “The advice
for learning piano”. In the first section, Hünten emphasises that students should
understand the mechanics of fingers, that their movements should be independent,
and that the use of the wrist and arm is forbidden. Moreover, he suggests one
should be cautious about putting weight on fingers to ensure good sound. Besides,
Hünten said the fingers should stand on the keys, and the movement of the handshould be as small as possible. (Hünten, 1833) These measures not only ensure
correctness but also achieve the goal of “Economical Playing”. Furthermore, thisreveals that Hünten utilised gravity and had discovered weight playing.

43

Franz Hünten (1792-1878) was a German pianist and composer.

139

In the second section, Hünten provides some advice for piano practice. He
thinks the minimum practice time is three hours a day. He recommends dividing
the three hours into three practice sessions within a day and keeping sufficient
hand rest before and during practising, rather than practising continuously forthree hours without resting hands. Moreover, five fingers should be practised in
the first one hour, then the pieces arranged by teachers or other pieces can bepractised in the next two hours. (Hünten, 1833) Because the piano cannot sustain
sounds produced by a single keystroke, polyphonic music should be carefully
practised; slow practice while counting beats is necessary. After the slow practice,
instructors need to choose an appropriate tempo for students, and the piece shouldbe played with fewer unnecessary motions of the hand in the tempo. Also, single
hand practice is necessary.

At the end of this part, Hüten deplored that many students like to choose
pieces that are too difficult to play for their actual abilities. Choosing a pieceshould be based on the actual learning conditions, abilities, and even thephysiological conditions of students. Hünten thinks that even in one easy piece,
some parts are challenging and worth practising. (Hünten, 1833) Therefore, I
think repertoire should not be complex but exquisite, and before students obtaina real proficiency in piano playing, earnest practice and a positive learning
attitude should become a habit. Do not be in a hurry to succeed.

140

In the latter half of the method, Hünten provides several lessons titles
indicating their practise purpose (Hünten, 1833). In contrast with the method of
Latour, Hünten’s lessons are without any music theory statements. However,
Hünten gives students lots of suggestions with practical significance, and they
are worth being used for reference. Hünten’s methods were inherited by Henri
Herz, the son of Hünten’s teacher Daniel Herz.

Herz wrote a method book called New and Complete Piano-forte School44.
The book consists of two parts: fundamental music theory and techniques. The
method book includes some of Herz’s suggestions for piano practice and study
strategies. Moreover, Herz invented a device for fingers exercise, which is
Dactylion that I mentioned above.

At the beginning of the method, Herz emphasises the importance of rhythm
and explains the definition of melody and harmony; then, he talks about music
theory starting from musical notation. (Herz, 1844) Herz places great emphasis
on notation because understanding notation is necessary for fluent score reading.
Moreover, just as languages have their vocabularies, music as a language also
has its vocabulary, which consists of notes.

44

The original edition is written in French Méthode Complète De Piano, the first version is publishedat Mainz by the publisher B. Schott’s Söhne in 1838.

141

Before discusses techniques, Herz introduces the features of piano structureand how to choose piano. Next, posture and motion of hands are discussed. He
mentions that the right foot should be put on the damper pedal, which no person
has mentioned before. Also, Herz thinks that hands should be rounded, fingers
should be bent, and each finger must have an independent motion; in particular,
Herz realised that hands could not keep the same position while playing; thus, hegives two ways to help change hand positions: (Herz, 1844)

1. by lifting off the hand entirely, in order to transport it from right to left, orfrom left to right; 2. By passing the thumb rapidly under the fingers, or thefingers over the thumb. 45
In the next part, Herz considers several music terms that are often used indaily practice and provides some suggestions for young pianists:

Perseverance and a love of his art are, for a young artist, indispensable
requisites of success... Patience and continued labor will never lead tosuperiority, unless enlightened by a sound judgement and directed by arational method. 46
Indeed, as the old saying goes in China, “Interest is the best teacher”. Interest
can stimulate the learning impetus, and it will help students stick to learning.
However, it is difficult to improve learning efficiency if there is only simple
patience and continuous efforts but no feedback from others. Constructive

45

Herz, Henri (1844) New and Complete Piano-forte School. John F. Nunns, 240 Broadway. p. 11.

46

Ibid., p. 16.

142criticism will give students confidence, constantly stimulating their fighting
spirit and guiding them to pursue higher goals. Moreover, it reveals therelationship between piano learning and the mental characteristics of adolescent
beginners, which I have mentioned in Chapter II. And we can find that Herz has
realised the psychological influence on piano practice.

Herz also gives young students suggestions about time allocation for practice.
He thinks young students need to practise the piano four hours per day. In thefirst hour, students should exercise with Dactylion and practice scales and otherbasic techniques according to the method book; in the second hour, students canpractice the pieces they are learning or something new; in the last two hours,
students need to review the pieces they have practised. (Herz, 1844) Herz’s time
allocation is different from Hünten’s. Herz adds a physical exercise and requiresa review. However, they both mention that break time during practice is needed
to avoid hand and finger fatigue.

Furthermore, Herz (1844) advises students on how to learn a new piece. Hereare his steps: 1) Find the best fingering, especially in difficult passages. Thenafter practicing with a single hand, take a slow tempo to find a proper balance inboth hands; 2) Do not practise the piano mechanically – you should think offinger motion and feel the sounds you hear; 3) Analyse the music to find its
character and peculiarities. This will help you play more easily and improveaccuracy; 4) When you are done with the piece, it is necessary to review it after143a period of time (p. 17). At last, Herz says it is helpful to play some works forfour hands or two pianos; they can help learn and practice harmony. Also,
students should aspire to play longer, monumental works. (Herz, 1844) From
above, we can see that the mental practise in Herz’s second step is consistent
with modern methods. In addition, in Herz’s fourth step concerning ensemble
practice, I think Chopin holds the same viewpoint as Herz.

In the last part of the method book, Herz provides many lessons forexercising the five fingers, and he requires that while students are practisingthese lessons, they should practise Dactylion together. (Herz, 1844) Overall, hislessons are similar to Hanon’s The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises 47 , which
systematically lists all kinds of basic techniques and exercises in unison playing
by both hands; as well as Liszt’s finger exercise Technische Studien, S.146
published in 1886, which includes exercises to improve finger independence andstrength, and to enhance playing abilities with scales, arpeggios, and othertechniques. However, Liszt’s studies are comparatively challenging to practise.
Furthermore, each of Herz’s lessons offers playing advice and explains music
theory and are similar to Hünten’s lessons (Herz, 1844). At the end of his book,
Herz (1844) attaches twelve short elementary lessons which include works ofcomposers such as Carafa, Puget, Adam, Mozart, and Bellini, and other works

47

Charles-Louis Hanon (1819-1900) was a French piano educator and composer. He published his

famous work The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises in 1873, it is now practiced popularly among
piano beginners around the world.

144

representative of various genres, including Russian air, Rondo, Nocturne(Bellini), Variations (Donizetti), Bagatelle (Ricci), Amusement (Donizetti), and
18 Characteristic Studios (Herz). (pp. 19-20)

The method of Herz discussed a comprehensive piano method. It includes
two advanced conceptions, using finger physical exercise equipment Dactylion
and psychological pedagogy for learning piano, which has contributed to thenovel piano methods. Therefore, it is worth referring to in my study.

The next book we will examine is Progressive and Complete Method for the
Pianoforte 48 by Henri Bertini 49, who was a pupil of Clementi. At the beginningof the method, two pictures show the hand position and body posture. Two
pictures depict the hand bent into the shape of an arch, and the upper body held
erect. Below the illustration, Bertini says this ridiculous appearance should be
avoided (Bertini, 1848).

The next part is the Preface. Berniti points out that most methods neglect toinclude a systematic presentation of the mechanics of piano playing from theoutset. He thinks the first lesson should carefully guide to students because if
students acquire a fault, it will accompany them forever. He found that even somestudents still feel reading the score is difficult, despite having learned piano for48

The original edition is written in French Méthode Compléte et Progressive de Piano, published at

Paris by Schonenberger polisher in 1840.
49

Henri Jerome Bertini (1798-1876) was a French pianist and composer.

145years. (Bertini, 1848) Unfortunately, this awkward situation still exists today, as
shown in Chapter III. One reason is, probably the way that the piano education
separated music theory and piano practising, which Latour (1832) considered anessential fault. Moreover, Bertini gives some advice for piano practice, especiallyconcerning the use of wrists and forearms:

The touch should be given exclusively from the fingers in skills, in runs of
the scales, and in other running passages… The keys should be struck fromthe wrists in chords and octaves, in lively and light movement… And in amoderate movement, where the expression demands great force, the keys must
be struck from the fore-arm. 50
Bertini sees the fingers, hand, wrist, and forearm as one coordinated locomotive
organ, and this is a scientific perspective related to kinematics.

Bertini also suggests that students practice scales first, then gradually speed
the tempo until they reach maximum velocity. Therefore, he wrote a series ofsystematic, comprehensive scales exercises, including all majors and minors. For
each key he provides a typical scale exercise, a piece written in one genre (suchas an aria or waltz), and a study containing scales and various basic techniques.
He also includes several works for four hands. Each scale is presented with
Bertini’s comments. (Bertini, 1848) We have seen that Chopin and Hünten both
gave supplementary four-hands works in their pedagogies. Furthermore,

50

Bertini, Henri Jerome. (1848) A Progressive and Complete Method for the Piano-forte. Boston:

New England Piano Co. p. IV.

146

exercises for arpeggios, broken chords, chromatic scales (in thirds, sixths, andoctaves), scales in thirds, and octaves are included as well.

Additionally, Bertini emphasises the importance of rhythm. He recommends
counting beats simultaneously while practising the piano. At the end of the book,
Bertini suggests that works from the old schools of Italy and Germany should belearned well to cultivate students’ personalities and styles. He recommends a few
composers, such as Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, Dusek, Cramer, Beethoven, andHummel. (Bertini, 1848)

Throughout the book, Bertini discusses his methods centred on music theory.
Therefore, we can say that Bertini is a fellow traveller of Latour and Herz.
However, his explanation is more systematic and independent. Let us see his
catalogue. (See Figure 4.5)147

Figure 4.5
Contents from Bertini’s method book

Source: Bertini, Henri Jerome. (1848) A Progressive and Complete Method for the Pianoforte. Boston: New England Piano Co. CONTENTS.

We can find that Bertini’s method is organized and logical. The method issectioned into types of techniques and is classified according to major and minor
keys. On the face of it, the structure and contents seem similar to Hanon’s method.
However, as my analysis above shows, because Bertini’s method includes

148different genres of piano pieces, especially four-hands works, the students will
not find it too dull when practising technique. Also, this proved once more proves
the importance of music theory. Consequently, Bertini’s method book is aworthwhile resource for late beginners. A similar method book I found is written
by Charles Child Spencer.

Charles Child Spencer 51 wrote a method book, The Rudiments of the Art ofPlaying the Pianoforte, which focuses on fingering from a unique perspective. In
this method, Spencer follows the British pedagogical style that counts fingers
from the index finger, which means that the index finger will become the first
finger, the middle finger is the second, the ring finger is the third, and the little
one is the fourth. I think this is because Spencer is concerned about the difference
between the thumb and other fingers. It reminds me that before Bach, the thumb
was rarely used in keyboard music. The following exercises from his methodbook reflect the thumb’s special role in piano playing. Therefore, they afford a
special opportunity for late beginners to better understand each finger’s
characteristics under the instructor’s guidance.

Concerning the keystroke method, Spencer provides the prototype of themethod that we are now familiar with. He writes,

51

Charles Child Spencer (1797-1869) was a British writer and composer. He has written manymethod books include musicology, composition and piano.

149

… Raise the whole hand about an inch above the keys, keeping each finger
in the line with its key, not stiffly but loosely, so as to allow it to move
downward from this height, and to press down the key appropriated to it…
by degrees, the stiffness will go off, and the motion will become easy…52
Spencer’s keystroke method is similar to the method of Martin Hughes53. Prof.
Hughes suggested a way to practice keystroke: place the forearm on the table andthen prop up the third joints (MCP) to form an arch of the whole hand. At thistime, the fingers need to be straight, and the wrist cannot leave the table. Then,raise fingers in turn, drop them down loosely without stiffness. This method ishelps students learn how to support their hands and use fingers, because an archshaped hand is the most stable, flexible form, and makes it easy to play withweight (weight touch). I will discuss it in the next chapter in the part about the“hand-bridge”. Prof. Hughes taught this physical exercise to every student so thatthey could do the practice anywhere. I think this method is instrumental for
helping adolescent beginners understand finger use more quickly.

Moreover, Spencer also suggests that students put five fingers on the
keyboard and play from C to G. (Spencer, 1853). Thus, combining physical andpractical training can help students understand the essentials of keystrokes and52

Spencer, Charles Child. (1853) The Rudiments of the Art of Playing the Pianoforte. London: John.

Weale. pp. 3-4.
53

Martin Hughes is a British pianist, pupil of Yvonne Lefébure, Benjamin Britten, Lev Oborin and

Whilhelm Kempf. The author had piano lessons with Martin Hughes during 2015-2019, and author
also has helped translate many Prof. Hughes’s lessons for other non-English speaker students.

150

guide students to use their fingers correctly. Moreover, scientifically, a solid
foundation of hand and finger use lays the base for later exercises. In addition,
this practical exercise is considered to be a possible a predecessor of Hanon’s
method.

In the following parts of Spencer’s method, almost every explanation ofplaying skills is based on fingering. Spencer suggests studying fingering witheach hand separately. Furthermore, Spencer discusses each technique with an
explanation of the underlying music theory. He discussed the fingerings of scales(including chromatic scales) and summarises fingering’s manners; (Spencer,1853) these are almost inherited from previous methods. In addition, he provides
three primary requisites in performance:

1. The correct reading of the notes.
2. The employment of the correct fingers.
3. The assignment to each and every note its exact portion of time.54
The three requisites condense Spencer’s main concerns: students need to learn
basic music theory well according to the first requisite; the second requisite
prompts students to think about fingering rules according to the last part of
Spencer’s method book; the third requisite requires students to divide the rhythm
into small segments and count them carefully. Moreover, Spencer’s three basic

54

Spencer, Charles Child. (1853) The Rudiments of the Art of Playing the Pianoforte. London: John.

Weale. p. 20.

151requirements are all based on music theory. Additionally, Spencer listed types ofrhythms with detailed examples and analyses fingering to help satisfy the third
requisite in his book. And he gives some short etudes written by himself at theend of this part. (Spencer, 1853) Spencer’s method overall is challenging forchildren because it includes abundant theoretical knowledge and complex,
challenging practice contents. However, for adolescent beginners whose
understanding and cognitive abilities are higher than those of young children, it
could be not only a systematic, comprehensive method but also it is a valuablerhythm training method.

In the following chapters, Spencer discusses the fingering problems of thethird and the sixth intervals and mentions that the fingerings could be slightly
changed for different sizes of hands (Spencer, 1853). Apparently, Spencer
accounted for individual differences; unfortunately, this awareness is rare in pastmethods.

On the other hand, according to the questionnaire research from Chapter III,
hand jumping is considered a problematic technique for early beginners, and evenfor late beginners and piano major students. In Spencer’s approach, he advises
how to practice skips within an octave,… it becomes necessary to change the position of the hand altogether. But
within the limit of an octave, the passage in skips may be performed withoutchanging the position of the hand. The best way is to place the fingers over152all the notes within this limit, the same as if we were required to strike them
all together, observing which fingers would be most convenient for such
purpose. 55
Here Spencer considers two kinds of skips: one is beyond an octave, and the otheris within an octave. Thus, he gives a playing method: put the fingers on the keys
and then play the notes together to find the correct hand position. Additionally,
for skips beyond an octave, Spencer also discussed how to determine thefingering and wrote many short exercises for the practicing skips beyond an
octave (Spencer, 1853). These exercises will help students better understand how
to position their hands and know the relationship between fingers, wrists, andarms. This is the way I usually see technique presented in a modern piano method.
In fact, it is a method to practice the coordination of locomotive organs.

Among the methods I studied, the British methods are unique and novel.
Under Spencer’s detailed theoretical explanation, I believe many late beginners
can better understand the techniques of piano playing. Spencer’s book discussed
how to use hands reasonably according to performance and music needs. It should
depend on the music to express the sounds and imagine the player’s desire using
different hand positions or movements. Therefore, it is considered important toconsider music instead of hand and finger movements at first.

55

Spencer, Charles Child. (1853) The Rudiments of the Art of Playing the Pianoforte. London: John.

Weale. p. 76.

153

The next one I want to introduce is also a representative method book fromBritain, New Method for the Piano-forte, written by Nathan Richardson 56. He wasa pupil of Meyer, Moscheles, and Dreyschock 57. At the beginning of the book,
Richardson (1859) illustrates piano playing posture, and the illustrations are
based on adults rather than children. In the discussion of posture, Richardsonshows more attention to thumb use. He realised the differences between the
thumb and other fingers. Moreover, in the discussion of scale practice, heintroduces how to use the thumb and also provides some Etudes for its practice.

The great difficulty in playing the Scales is in passing the thumbs under thefingers, and the fingers over the thumbs in a smooth and undetectedmanner… In order to overcome these difficulties, it requires a certain kindof practice to make the thumb joints flexible. 58
However, Richardson does not describe how thumbs work in executing thatmovement (Richardson, 1859). As a matter of fact, I also find that many students
have such problems. When their thumbs are passing under the fingers or otherfingers over the thumbs, the motions are not natural and smooth, and they like toturn their elbows out to help fingers over thumbs. From the physics viewpoint,
when the fingers are over the thumb, the thumb should be regarded as an axis ofrotation; when the thumb passes under the fingers, the second or the third fingers

56

Nathan Richardson (1827-1859) was a piano educator and music writer.

57

Alexander Dreyschock (1818-1869) was a Czech pianist and composer.

58

Richardson, Nathan. (1859) New Method for the Piano-forte. Boston (UK): Oliver Ditson &Company. p. 43.

154

should be an axis. At this point, we need to find more modern scientific evidence
to improve the effectiveness.

Richardson’s book is based on five-finger exercises and includes the
explanation of music theory. It is similar to Spencer’s book, but Richardson
understands better the importance of five-finger practice. His suggestions on
five-finger exercises are as follows:

Practice with each hand separately at first and very slowly. Raise the fingers
high, and strike with a firm blow… Be careful to strike the notes with equal
force. Avoid all stiffness…
…It should be the first morning exercise of advanced players to play fivefinger exercises…
…the pupil cannot give too much time to the practise of them, as they giveequal strength to the fingers, and form an elegant touch, which is so requisite
to a fine performance…59
In Richardson’s five-finger exercises, most of them help train the independenceof fingers, especially exercises No. 29, and 34 ~ 36 (Richardson, 1859), which
are similar to Liszt’s finger exercises, and involve holding one or three keys andplay different types of notes with the remaining fingers. It significantly improves
finger independence, but if students practise those exercises incorrectly, it will

59

Richardson, Nathan. (1859) New Method for the Piano-forte. Boston (UK): Oliver Ditson &Company. p. 27, 30, 36.

155

cause irreversible damage to the fingers according to the anatomical analysis ofChapter II.

Late beginners can learn theoretical knowledge from Richardson’s method.
Concerning Richardson’s method of learning music theory, he suggests thatstudents should try to practise works written using only the treble clef or bass
clef staff with both hands after learning the staff. Students need to pay attention
to the fingerings during the exercise and try to keep their eyes on the notes insteadof the keys as much as possible (Richardson, 1859). This kind of practice isintended to cultivate a spatial sense of the keyboard, and it can improve the speedof score reading as well. Richardson emphasises the importance of ears,
especially for beginners, and he also suggests counting the beats during practice(Richardson, 1859). He says, “never begin a piece quicker than you can withcertainly go through it to the very end.”60 Therefore, we can determine the whole
piece’s tempo through the tempo you can play in the most difficult parts. In
addition, Richardson also advises on the allocation of time for piano practice:
two or four hours a day, which should be divided into different parts of the day(Richardson, 1859). It is the same as the previous methods. Moreover, heprovides a detailed method of allocating time:

60

Richardson, Nathan. (1859) New Method for the Piano-forte. Boston (UK): Oliver Ditson &Company. p. 60.

156

…the pupil dedicates it daily, but three hours only, of which about half anhour shall be appropriated to the Exercise, as much more to playing over theold pieces, and the remaining time to the study of new compositions…61
In the second half of the 19th century, a great piano educator, Louis Plaidy,62
trained many famous composers and pianists, such as Hans von Bülow andEdvard Grieg. Additionally, he is famous for his piano pedagogy. Plaidy wrote amethod book, Technical Studies for the Piano, and he left lots of piano studies,
which are still occasionally used today.

A contemporary British pianist, Nick van Bloss, started learning piano ataround eleven years old. He strongly recommends that students solve piano
playing problems using Plaidy’s method; and Nick thinks Plaidy’s exercises are
beneficial to fingers and do not easily cause injuries. For Nick himself, he thinks
these exercises are efficient. Nick also mentions two famous pianists, Rosina
Lhévinne 63 and John Browning 64 , both of whom inherited the methods ofPlaidy. 65 As an early-adolescent beginner, Nick has grown up to be a concert

61

Ibid., p. 150.

62

Louis Plaidy (1810-1974) was a German well known piano teacher.

63

Rosina Lhévinne (1880-1976) was a Ukraine born pianist and piano educator, a wife of Josef

Lhévinne, who was a celebrity Russian pianist.
64

John Browning (1933-2003) was an American pianist, a pupil of Rosina Lhévinne.

65

Spanswick, Melanie. (2018, Mar 18). Re: Honest Insights and Some Forgotten Exercises [TheClassical Piano and Music Education Blog]. Retrieved fromhttps://melaniespanswick.com/2018/03/18/honest-insights-and-some-forgotten-exercises/(Accessed on Mar 20, 2021)

157

pianist through learning Plaidy’s methods. This demonstrates its efficiency forlate beginners. Thus, I tried to find appropriate methods for late beginners in
Plaidy’s book.

For the first time in piano education history, Plaidy (1875) separates
professional and amateur students to analyse their learning motivation andpurpose.

He

believesthat

amateurstudentsshouldacquireartistic

accomplishment and learn specific skills of composition. Plaidy also thinks thatmusic theory is necessary even for amateur students.

Regarding posture, Plaidy has a unique approach in his book that thatinvolves describing the centre of gravity of the palm (Plaidy, 1852). Plaidy wrote,“The centre of gravity of the hand in playing should fall inwards, i. e. to towards
the thumb.”66 It requires the hand to be placed horizontally and to hold up thefifth finger firmly so that the centre of gravity of the hand can be inclined to thethumb.

On the time allocation for piano practice, Plaidy points out that professional
students need at least four hours per day, while amateur students need at least
one hour per day, and they should be allocated at different times of the day. In
most daily practice, beginners need to practice finger exercises very carefully
until they can firmly support their hands and fingers. At the same time, Plaidy

66

Plaidy, Louis. (1875) Technical Studies for the Piano. New York: G. Schirmer. p. 3.

158

strongly opposes using equipment to help finger practice; he thinks theequipment could ruin hands and fingers and cause stiffness. (Plaidy, 1852)
According to Plaidy’s suggestions, He enabled students to practise many finger
exercises to achieve the effect, which still lacks efficiency. On the other hand,
Plaidy seems only to see the downside of misusing equipment but failed toconsider the benefits if used correctly and reasonably.

Plaidy points out the problems of beginners who have bad habits inperformance or play the piano lack of playing manners. Thus, he advised that…first of all study the first section (that is, the slow trill) with great care,and not go on to the following sections until they can execute the first in astrictly correct manner. Then let them familiarize themselves with the scales
that occur most frequently, and with some of the broken chords, andafterwards take up the other sections one by one.67
In addition, for the problem of unbalanced finger keystrokes, especially when
the thumb is knocking or the other fingers tend to be stiff, Plaidy gives thefollowing solution:…They should, therefore, moderate the force of the thumb, and endeavor to
make that of the fourth and fifth fingers equal to the others. We would
recommend their practicing passages which are to be executed by these two
fingers, with a stronger touch. 68

67

Ibid., p. 6.

68

Ibid.

159

Consequently, instructors should pay attention to whether students correctly
play with the thumb by using its CMC joint rather than the MCP joint, especiallyfor beginners. Meanwhile, the MCP joints should hold more firmly tohorizontalize the palm because the fourth and fifth fingers are relatively weak.
Plaidy’s method strengthens the keystroke of the fourth and fifth fingers, and the
keystroke strength of five fingers can become more balanced.

After pointing out all students’ problems and putting forward solutions andsuggestions for practising, Plaidy provides many small exercises (Plaidy, 1852).
Among them, scales and rapid-passage practice will be discussed in Chapter V.
These methods can help solve the playing problems found in the questionnaire
surveys of Chapter III among late beginners.

At the end of the book, Plaidy gives some suggestions for score reading, and
it is the first time I found the score reading discussion among the books I
researched. He suggests: 1) Students should learn rudiments (music theory) well,and the knowledge of harmony is also necessary; 2) The most important thing isthat practicing a piece from beginning to the end without stopping, and choosing
an appropriate tempo for practice; 3) Playing more four-hands works and playing
with other instruments is helpful as well (Plaidy, 1875). Score reading requires
flexible fingers, a sense of rhythm, and specific music theory knowledge.
Moreover, it also requires the efficient cooperation of our locomotive organs,which will be mentioned in the 20th and 21st-century approaches. In addition,160

according to the level of difficulty, Plaidy (1875) provides lists of practicerepertoire and gives some suggestions for practising difficult works. (pp. 85-86)
They will be used as a reference for the exercises for adolescent beginners in
Chapter V.

Next, I want to talk about two of the most excellent methods at the end of the
19th century, written by Leschetizky69 and Deppe 70. Leschetizky was a discipleof Czerny and trained many celebrated pianists, including Vasily Safonov 71 ,Ignacy Jan Paderewski 72 , Franz Schmidt 73 and Isabelle Vengerova 74 .
Unfortunately, Leschetizky did not write any method books, but his student andteaching assistant, Malwine Brée, wrote a method book, The Groundwork of theLeschetizky Method. Brée thinks that Leschetizsky’s method is not exactly for
beginners or children, but for those students who have obtained somerudimentary training (Brée, 1902). However, in my opinion, the contents

69

Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915) was a Polish pianist composer and piano educator.

70

Ludwig Deppe (1828-1890) was a German composer, conductor, and piano educator.

71

Vasily Safonov (1852-1918) was a Russian pianist, piano teacher, and composer. His notablepupils include Alexander Scriabin, Josef Lhévinne, etc.
72

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) was a Polish pianist and composer, also the prime minister of

Poland.
73

Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) was an Austrian composer and pianist.

74

Isabelle Vengerova (1877-1956) was a Russian pianist and music educator. Her pupils include

Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Gray Graffman, etc.

161concerning performance posture and primary practice methods (scales andarpeggios) in this book can be used for late beginners.

In Leschetizsky’s method, he explicitly states the merits and demerits of big
and small hands and the coordination of arms and wrists.

Too large hands are not always advantageous at the piano; but too smallhands are often a disadvantage… Large hands, again, show superiority inwidespread chords, which small hands have to make good by means of
dexterity and suitable arrangements… The method of holding them is samefor both.75
Also, regarding the movements of the wrist and arm, and coordination, he thinks
that…the wrist, which serve to facilitate the execution of phrases, to support therhythm, or to rest the hand after the tension of forte-playing by relaxation of
the joint…The arm, to be sure, remains a clumsy fellow, always having to be
guided lest he throw fingers and wrist off the track by faulty movements.76
In the methods of the 19th century, this is the first time for a method to mention
physiological differences. Leschetizsky tells us that in piano playing, the hand,
wrist and arm should play cooperatively, and according to the music, the fingers
should guide the movement of the wrist and arm. Those who advocate keeping

75

Brée, Malwine. (1902) The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method. New York: G. Schirmer. p. 2.

76

Ibid., p. 78, 80.

162the wrist without much movement are too conservative, which is against the basic
principle of human kinematics.

Leschetizky was aware of the role of physiology and realised the importanceof psychology in piano playing. In practising chords, he suggests that the handprepare the chord according to the shape you get from the score, and he called
this “physiognomy recognition” (Brée, 1902). Players should not just strike thekeys with fingers, but use eyes to visualize the music score, then transmit the
information to the brain, and to fingers. At last, you can even turn the score intoa language or hum it in a low voice. Meanwhile, the player should also use ears
to predict and detect whether the sounds produced are correct or satisfactory.
Visualizing music scores can improve the speed of score reading and achieve
higher efficiency in practice.

More than that, Leschetizky also thinks that self-criticism is an essential
factor in piano playing.

Whoever has got so far as to criticize himself as sharply as his neighbor, is
far advanced; for even the recognition of one’s faults means much, although
there is yet a long step to their amendment. 77

77

Ibid. p. 77.

163

Self-evaluation is significant in the psychological development of teenagers,which has been discussed in Chapter II. Therefore, it can be said that
Leschetizky’s perception was quite comprehensive and scientific for his time.

One of the main trends in the 19th century was that almost every method
advocated learning music theory at first. Although Leschetizky did not directly
mention music theory learning, most of the techniques in the book are directly
related to music theory statements. Therefore, Leschetizky also emphasised themusic theory knowledge is important for beginners.

Additionally, concentration is highly valued in his method. Annette Hullaheven asserted that concentrated thought is a cornerstone of Leschetizky’s method,and if you stop thinking about music, you can do nothing (Hullah, 1906). It isalso my personal experience. I found it challenging to play some difficult partsof pieces, not because of the hands’ lack of playing skills, but because I did notconcentrate on or fully understand the music (in terms of rhythm, beats, ormusical character).

Leschetizky also gives six suggestions on practising and learning piano forbeginners, which will be discussed in Chapter V. In summary, these six
suggestions are: 1) When you start to learn the piano, you can practise with small
sounds, and it is no need to make it loud; 2) Do single-hand practice and rest at
any time to avoid muscle fatigue; 3) While playing you can move your hands

164slightly up and down to prevent stiffness; 4) When lifting fingers, keep them bent
to prevent the loss of tension and strength of fingers; 5) Touch keys with thefingertips; 6) When playing forte or striking the black keys, you need to
outstretch fingers instead of bending them (Brée, 1902).

Regarding Deppe, I first have to mention another person, Caland. She was apupil of Deppe, and she published several books about the pedagogy and practicemethods of Deppe. These books recorded Deppe’s methods and made an immense
contribution to the development of piano methods in the 20th century. In one ofthese books, Artistic Piano-Playing as Taught by Ludwig Deppe Together with
Practical Advice on Questions of Technic, Caland complemented his methods andmade contents more detailed and intuitive. Thereupon, the Deppe-Caland method
was formed.

Deppe’s methods can be summarized into two aspects. Firstly, Deppe
opposes the Lebert-Stark school because he believes it can cause fingers andother locomotive organs to get fatigued quickly. Thus, Deppe suggests a low seat,and he thinks this position could release fingers and relax arm and shoulder
muscles (Caland, 1903). Caland has given a supplementary explanation for the
position.

165

Figure 4.6
Deppe’s posture (a)Source: Caland, Elizabeth. (1903) Artistic Piano-Playing as Taught by Ludwig Deppe
Together with Practical Advice on Questions of Technic. New York: G. Schirmer. P. 27

Figure 4.7
Deppe’s posture (b)Source: Caland, Elizabeth. (1903) Artistic Piano-Playing as Taught by Ludwig Deppe
Together with Practical Advice on Questions of Technic. New York: G. Schirmer. P. 28…when the hand is laid on the keyboard, the level of the elbow is seen to betrifle lower than that of the white keys (see Figure 4.6) …the line formed by
the fifth finger, the outside of the hand, and the forearm should be a straightone (see Figure 4.7).78

78

Caland, Elizabeth. (1903) Artistic Piano-Playing as Taught by Ludwig Deppe Together with

Practical Advice on Questions of Technic. New York: G. Schirmer. pp. 26-28.

166

The middle finger is important (see Figure 4.7) as the central axis of the wholehand activity, and it is related to the movement of the arm and shoulder. Deppe
believed that the fingers could completely obtain independence, and each finger
could obtain the same strength (Caland, 1903). However, this lacks scientificgrounding. Nevertheless, our skeletons are like the frame when building a house,
which can firmly support the whole hand and diffuse the loads from external
force.

Secondly, according to Caland (1903), Deppe asserts that the hand should be
as light as a feather. He explains the interrelation of the wrist, hand, and arm: thehand-weight is supported by the wrist, which is in turn supported by the forearm,in turn supported by the upper arm. As Caland added, this lightness is an
impossibility unless the shoulder, not hand, sustains and carries the arm’s
weight. 79 In Deppe’s method, we can see that piano playing requires theparticipation of the whole arm, even the shoulder. It also proved that Deppe
realised the importance and necessity of coordinating muscles; it is “muscularsynergy” in Deppe’s words.

About the muscular synergy, Caland noticed that,

Force is not transmitted to the muscles, but is engendered by them… if wewish to put into any movement every available atom of energy, then we mustobtain the concurrent working of the greatest possible number of muscular

79

Ibid., p. 22.

167

fibers… it is indispensable that they be fashioned under the law of a common
rhythm, and this is what we understand by muscular synergy.80
For late beginners, explaining the physiological principle above is important.
After they understand the source of energy and force, they will not force
themselves to play unnecessarily strong tones. Instead, they will use their fingers
to avoid hand stiffness and limb pain. Muscular synergy is the root of Deppe’s
method, and simultaneously, it is the basis of weight touch, which was
sufficiently used in the 20th century. Weight touch is one of the most effective
methods in modern times; therefore, I will discuss this method in the next part,
including its function, exercise, and development. Also, I will analyse its
scientific basis in physical mechanics.

Deppe’s method is the basis of many subsequent scientific piano methods.
After Deppe’s death, more and more methods focus on the physiological,
psychological, and kinematic fields. Thus, it can be said that Deppe is a turning
point from empiricism to practical scientism in piano method research. So far, all
the representative piano methods of the 19th century have been introduced. To
capsulize, I made a summary with charts as follows. Then, I checked the contentsof these method books and made Tables 4.3 and 4.4 81 to show what each bookcontains.

80

Ibid., p. 24.

81

Italy (IT), Austria (AT), United States (US), Poland (PL).

168

Table 4.3
The summary of the 19th century’s methods (a)(IT)
M.
Clementi

Body
positionHand
position andmovement
Wrist-use
Fingerposition andmovementArm
position andmovement
Touch

(FR)
L.
Adam

(DE)
D.
Graupner

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

(DE)
D.
Steibelt

(AT)
J. N.
Hummel(AT)
C.
Czerny

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

(DE)
F. W.
Kalkbrenner

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Scale

◯

◯

◯

Arpeggio
Intervals(doublenotes,
octave)Chords

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Rhythm◯◯◯Phrasing

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

Ornaments

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Fingering
Shake(Tremolo)
Pedal

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Musicalterms
Note, Mark,
Solmization
Muscular,relaxation
Weight-use
Sight
reading
Skeleton

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Memorising

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯
*Made by the author

169

Table 4.4
The summary of the 19th century’s methods (b)
(FR)
J. T.
Latour(DE)F.
Hünten

(AT)
H.
Herz

(FR)
H. J.
BertiniBody
positionHand
position andmovement
Wrist-use
Fingerposition andmovementArm
position andmovement
Touch

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Scale

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Arpeggio
Intervals(doublenotes,
octave)ChordsRhythm

◯

◯

◯

(UK)
C. C.
Spencer(US)
N.
Richardson(DE)
L.
Plaidy

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Phrasing
Ornaments(PL)
T.
Leschetizky

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Fingering
Shake(Tremolo)
Pedal◯

MusicalTerms
Note, Mark,
Solmization
Muscular,relaxation
Weight-use
Sight
reading
Skeleton
Memorising

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
*Made by the author

170

From Table 4.3 and Table 4.4, we can find that musical composition and thedevelopment of piano instrument structure interrelate with each other. In history,
we know that composers’ creative needs sometimes guided manufacturers to
improve piano structure. Therefore, the piano becomes more and more capableof creating expressive sounds, it leads to the birth of more and more performancetechniques and music expression. As a result of that, the contents of pedagogies
and methods get more and more comprehensive and practical. Moreover, thetables show the following results: unlike the pedagogy of the 18th century that
only concentrated on finger-use, 19th century pedagogy was more holisticallyconcerned with all locomotive organs, from fingers to shoulders.

Secondly, in the 19th century, with the innovation of piano structure,composers and pianists wanted to fully express the musicality of the piano; thus,
more and more techniques were born. Therefore, the variety of techniques
introduced by method books increased, and their learning methods and practicesuggestions became more comprehensible and reasonable. Moreover, in the early
19th century, due to piano players’ eagerness to master techniques rapidly, theexercising devices were vigorously promoted to help fingers improve throughsupplementary physical exercise. However, the use of these devices use wasconsidered unacceptable in the late 19th century because many pianists damaged
their fingers after practising with them. As far as I am concerned, using thesedevices needs to be done in accordance with modern scientific physiology, body
kinematics, and physics, to find a reasonable practice method.
171

Thirdly, the importance of music theory was widely recognised in this period.
These representative method books all included music theory, and some books
even analysed techniques combined with music theory. All of these method books
agreed that music theory study would accelerate the pace of piano learning. In
my opinion, this can be effective mainly for late beginners who have developed
a certain cognitive and independent thinking ability. Music theory plays anessential role in the score reading and memorisation that are entailed in thesemethods. Most people would say music is a language; indeed, music theory isgrammar, and musical notes are the vocabulary of piano music. Therefore, when
you are learning a new language, grammar and vocabulary are usually learned
simultaneously.

Finally, piano methods in the 19th century evolved to become morecomprehensive, precise, and reasonable than before, and the research direction
gradually turned to the scientific side at the end of the century. Due to theadvancement of the Industrial Revolution, science and technology became moredeveloped, and at the same time, the piano structure was also improved further.
Therefore, some books in this period mentioned the necessity of learning piano
structure. Although the methods in the 19th century are traditional from ourperspective, I found there are still lots of possibilities worth exploring, especiallyfor late beginners and piano learners who have special goals.

1724.3 Introduction to Piano Methods in the 20th Century

Entering the 20th century, the development of piano methods and pedagogies
strode forward to a new stage and eventually metamorphosed from “empiricism”
into “experimentalism”. At the beginning of the 20th century, the piano methods
followed the same developmental pattern as the late 19th century but finallyestablished the weight-touch school. Afterwards, with the development ofscience, research on anatomy and physiology proliferated, which caused more
and more researchers to begin explaining music and piano methods throughscience. Therefore, many piano method hypotheses of the 19th century have been
gradually verified. Thus, the piano method has turned to be materialised andvisualised.

For the 20th century, I also selected several representative methods. They are
the methods of Isidor Philipp, Rudolf Maria Breithaupt, Otto Ortmann, Tobias
Matthay, William Stein Newman, Abby Whiteside, József Gát, and György
Sándor. Their methods evolved from traditional ideas as more rational andscientific means have been used to interpret efficient performance methods.

Isidor Philipp 82 studied the piano with Georges Mathias 83 , Camille SaintSaëns, and other musicians. Philipp’s method, Complete School of Technic for

82

Isidor Philipp (1863-1958) was a French pianist, composer, and an educator.

83

Georges Mathias (1826-1910) was a French pianist, composer, and educator. A pupil of

Kalkbrenner and Chopin.

173

the Pianoforte, inherited the essence of Deppe. The relationships between fingers,
wrists, and arms have breakthrough developments in his method. Thus, I foundsome suggestions that can help adolescent beginners from his method.

Philipp (1908) gives some advice for practice to students with small hands.
He mentions that small-handed students could practice double sixths as
preparation for the octave. That is because the fifth fingers’ knuckles are easily
kept firmly rounded up and strengthened for the heavier task required of them inoctaves.84 Also, Philipp gives a position for smaller hands to use when playing
chords: An elevated wrist, with knuckles and joints rounded out as much as
possible. 85

The questionnaire survey in Chapter III found that many students are unable
to play octaves because their hands are naturally small or cannot be stretchedbecause they are insufficiently limber. Philipp’s method attempts to help late
beginners play octaves and chords well. Indeed, there is a need for more scientificresearch to help hand stretching.

When Philipp (1908) talks about each playing method, he integrates the useof fingers, wrists, and arms, mostly emphasising wrists. Concerning the hand
position for scales, Philipp said the hands point in, and the wrists are rounded

84

Philipp, Isidore. (1908) Complete School of Technic for the Pianoforte. Philadelphia: Theodore

Presser. p. 86.
85

Ibid., p. 98.

174

out and about level. The knuckles are raised, and the fingers full-curved. The
thumb tips are bent inward. 86 He also wrote exercises similar to Liszt’s for finger
extension and independence: keeping three notes (chords) held and practisingwith the other two fingers. Moreover, Philipp notes how to practise them,…the exercises for some time should be practised piano… The less the effort
made to hold the chords down and to move the fingers, the more freely themuscles will stretch. The fingers are curved as much as possible, the knuckles
raised, the wrists at times elevated, at others held low. Transpose.87
We can see that Philipp regarded wrist usage to be of great importance, which isconsistent with Couperin’s view. His method is also similar to the method ofLeschetizky, which involves using hands upward and downward motions
according to music. These motions can reduce muscle tension, not only in handmuscles but also in arm muscles. In addition, Philipp considers that broken
chords can help to strengthen the fifth finger (Philipp, 1908).

Besides Phillip’s interpretation of wrist function, using the arm using is also
be mentioned in his method. Phillip talked about how to use the arm to playoctaves, particularly octave jumps. He thought that the arm should assisted by
the wrist, elbow, and fingers. (Philipp, 1908) The octave tremolo is executed by
combining the finger movement with a vibrating side-twist from the forearm88.

86

Ibid., p. 22.

87

Ibid., p. 47.

88

Ibid., p. 104.

175

The tremolo should only be played with a close vibrating movement from thewrist 89, and the chord tremolo is played with the entire arm. His explanation of
the arm usage is the most detailed so far. Each technique is played by using
reasonable hand and fingers movement, which makes technique practice more
efficient.

Lastly, I would like to recommend Phillip’s methods to adolescent beginners.
On the one hand, Philipp opposed the high finger school (Philipp, 1908). We
cannot say that the high finger technique is wrong, but fingers should move interms of music as I discussed above. Therefore, it is unnecessary to emphasisehigh fingers at the initial stage because overusing the high finger technique iscontrary to the principle of human anatomy and impedes the coordination of hand
– wrist – arm – shoulder. On the other hand, he believes that beginners should
first stabilise the hand position and not produce loud sounds unless they are
already familiar with the hand position (Philipp, 1908). In other words, it means
do not rush to play with forte but to use the hands reasonably and naturally at the
beginning and strengthen the muscles afterwards. In conclusion, Philipp’s
methods relate to Deppe and Leschetizky in the aspect of the movement of hands
and arms, and they promoted the establishment of the landmark method – weight
touch.

89

Ibid.

176

It can be said that the weight touch is one of the greatest developments within
piano technique of the 20th century. This method germinated in Deppe’s time,
and we can even see earlier approximations in Leschetizky’s time. However, in
1909, Rudolf Maria Breithaupt90 published School of Weight-Touch, which is thesecond volume of his book series Natural Piano-Technic, and this book formallyestablished the weight-touch school in history. This method is based on
physiology and analysed the internal functions of piano playing more thoroughly.
Moreover, it also perfected the function of muscular synergy in piano playing.
As far as I am concerned, weight touch can be used to help adolescent beginners
practise techniques naturally and scientifically.

Based on Steinhausen’s theory91, Breithaupt believes that psychological andphysiological principles are required when interpreting music (Breithaupt, 1909).
Therefore, Breithaupt wants to find a natural playing method to emancipate piano
students from stiff limbs and motions, finally achieving dexterous and flexible
locomotive organs. Weight-touch needs a mature skeleton structure and muscle
system because it needs a firm hand bridge for support and a mature nervous

90

Rudolf Maria Breithaupt (1873-1945) was a German piano educator and composer.

91

Friedrich Adolf Steinhausen (1859-1910) was a German doctor. He contributed a physiologicalbasis for weight touch, which replaced the traditional techniques based around five-finger-exercises.
His research was influenced by Deppe, and his physiological theories in piano playing built a bridge
between Deppe and Breithaupt.

177system for perception and control. Therefore, the weight-touch method is an
emergency rescue for adolescent beginners.

At the beginning of the School of Weight-Touch, Breithaupt shows several
pictures of hand position. First, put the hand and forearm flat and relaxed on thetable, then set up the hand as shown in Figure 4.8 shown below, supporting the
knuckle joints to make a hand bridge (Breithaupt, 1909).

Figure 4.8
Breithaupt’s hand position

Source: Breithaupt, Rudolf Maria. (1909) Natural Piano Technique Vol. 2: School of
Weight-Touch-Natural Piano Technic. Leipzig: C. F. Kahnt Nachfolge. p. 7

We can see from the picture that the wrist does not sit on the table but issuspended. Whereas Prof. Hughes also taught a similar position to produce bettersound, the only thing different with Breithaupt is that Prof. Hughes required thewrist to sit on the table, then for the student to lift fingers in turn, dropping them178

down as their weight is felt. Actually, a low set wrist can increase the flexibilityof fingers, and a better sense of motion of the third knuckle joint can be obtained.

After determining the hand position, another requirement of weight touch isarm usage, and Breithaupt said,…when combined with the elastic muscular tension of the whole physicalapparatus set in motion (shoulder, upper- and fore-arm, hand, fingers),
constitutes the fundamental elements of piano-technic…The arm, hanging
loose and inactive in the shoulder-joint, is “supported” by the hand or by
the fingers. 92
This again proves the coordination function between the four members: fingers,
wrists, arms, and shoulders. Furthermore, muscular synergy is emphasised once
again.

Breithaupt (1909) analysed weight in two aspects, weight testing and release.
The weight testing can help relax the arm, and his way is similar to a method
popular in Chinese piano education. First, the teacher helps students raise theirarms to a certain height; at this time, students’ arms should be completely relaxed.
Then tell students are told that when withdrawing hands, the arms should fall
freely with gravity. Additionally, their fingers need to stand firmly on the keys
straight and keep other playing members (wrists, arms, shoulder and back)relaxed, without stiffness. (pp. 13-18) However, Breithaupt explained the most92

Ibid., pp. 11-12.

179

important method, weight-transfer, which can prevent stiffness and fatigue
during the five-finger exercises. Moreover, releasing the weight will help playchords and dynamic pieces. (Breithaupt, 1909)

Breithaupt summarised four actions in the book. For the first action, Thelongitudinal oscillation of the arm, Breithaupt (1909) proposed two playing
motions, low-fall and high-fall, which will be discussed in Chapter V. This
motion requires flexible wrists because it connects the hand and arm and plays
an important role in weight-transfer. (pp. 19-24) The second action is called
Extension of fore-arm. At first, Breithaupt (1909) emphasised the four mostimportant actions: Swinging – extension of fore-arm – rolling of fore-arm – freeoscillation of the fingers. 93 Using these actions allows the limb to gain more
freedom and flexibility, and to avoid rigidity. Moreover, they are suitable forplaying rapid passages, especially octaves and chords. (pp. 25-30) The third
action is called Rolling of fore-arm. The Deppe-Caland method mentioned theconcept of hand pivot, and Breithaupt added here:

the outward twisting of the fore-arm together with the hand, showing thepalm turned upwards, is called “supination” … the hand turned inwards,
being “pronation”.94

93

Ibid., p. 25.

94

Ibid., p. 32.

180

We can refer to Figure 4.6. In Deppe-Caland’s hand position, the fifth finger andulna are in a straight line; In Breithaupt’s method, the fifth finger acts as afulcrum, and the ulna as the pivot to complete the rolling technique. Among piano
techniques, rotation is the most beneficial technique; in particular, it is theessential skill for scales and arpeggios. Rotation will be introduced in Chapter V
because it is a necessary skill for adolescent beginners, which will enormously
improve their practice efficiency.

Going back to Breithaupt’s book, after the rotation technique, Breithaupt(1909) introduces scale practice based on the rotation skill. He also recommends
practising B major scale in the beginning, in concurrence with Chopin’s
viewpoint. Furthermore, he suggests a scale practice order for the rotation: F # or
G ♭ , B and D ♭ . Then follow A ♭ and E ♭ , E and A major. Finally, the remaining major
and all the minor scales 95. The fourth action is the Free oscillation of the fingers.
After discussing the arm, forearm, and wrist, Breithaupt starts to talk about
fingers. As he believes that

It is wrong to start training the fingers from a strictly curved position… as
first of all, arm and hand must be taught to remain supple and loose andlearn how to assume and transfer the weight. 96

95

Ibid., pp. 37-38.

96

Ibid., p. 55.

181

Indeed, for late beginners, as a result of their physiological conditions, training
should begin with the exercise of upper limbs (arms and shoulders); Saving
exercises with fingers for last can improve their flexibility quickly. It is possible
to shorten the time of the primary learning stage, thereby achieving efficient
practice. In addition, weight-transfer can be used for various touches, such as
legato, staccato, and other techniques.

In the last part of the method, Breithaupt (1909) expounds the performancetechniques often encountered in playing practice methods. The performancetechniques include polyphony, two hands playing with different motions,dynamics, aesthetics, touch, rhythm, and fingering. Concerning the various
motions of the two hands, it is a problem we have observed with late beginners
in Chapter III. Breithaupt mentioned three impeding movements and realised
they are interfered with by nerve centres. (pp. 57-58) In addition, Breithaupt alsomentioned the influence of individual differences such as small hands and finger
thickness on practice (Breithaupt, 1909). His strategies and methods can be used
for adolescent beginners, and I will discuss them in Chapter V.

At the end of the book, there are some advises for daily practice. Breithaupt(1909) explains the source and types of resistance in playing from the perspectiveof physics, which is “force and reaction” 97; simultaneously, he emphasised theimportance of learning music theory and explains the difference between

97

Referring to Newton’s third law of motion.

182

stiffness and clumsiness. Furthermore, Breithaupt also explains the reason for the
stiffness and clumsiness. He thinks that clumsiness is more influenced bypsychological side, while stiffness comes from the physiological side. On theother hand, one way to overcome clumsiness is through concentration (p. 92). At
last, Breithaupt gives several suggestions for beginners. Breithaupt holds thatlearning solfeggio is fundamental because it is a kind of psychological technique.
This technique will help to read scores faster and to correct rhythm. Moreover,
the respiratory system also influences performance. (pp. 92-98)

In general, Breithaupt’s research is based on physiology, which leads to an
examination of often-overlooked physical properties of fingers, wrists, arms, andshoulders in piano playing. His weight-touch method is the core of this research.
Breithaupt realised the influence of the nervous system on piano playing.
However, he confused the psychical and psychological fields. Nevertheless,Breithaupt’s research still laid a physical and physiological foundation for further
research. Afterwards, more and more researchers began to focus on studying thecentral nervous system, and the most representative person is Ortmann.

Otto Ortmann 98 devoted himself to finding a correct, natural, and scientificmanner in which to perform piano art. His predecessors, especially the DeppeCaland and Breithaupt methods, analysed the principles of various movements
and techniques in piano performance by integrating anatomy, physiology, and98

Otto Rudolph Ortmann (1889-1979) was an American pianist, educator and researcher.

183

kinematics. Furthermore, Ortmann even tried to explain the correlations between
the nervous system and piano playing.

Concerning Ortmann’s research, he published The Physiological Mechanicsof Piano Technique in 1929, and I have picked out the methods that can be used
to guide adolescent beginners, which are almost all linked to human beings'
physiological function. In this chapter, I will briefly talk about Breithaupt’s book,and in Chapter V, I will discuss his practise methods and pedagogy in detail.
Ortmann’s book is divide into three parts.

In Part I, Ortmann (1909) introduces three kinds of lever principles andexplains the composition of forces. Then he deduces that there are many leversin the human skeletons, and he concludes that most muscles serve to activate
levers in piano playing. (pp. 12-19) Ortmann noted that these levers are thirdclass levers, in which the effort is between the fulcrum and resistance (Ortmann,
1929). See Figure 4.9

Figure 4.9
The third-class lever*Made by the author

184

The third-class lever is the hardest lever, effort between the fulcrum andresistance. Common objects such as tweezers and staplers both belong to thisclass. Though it needs much effort, its displacement is shorter than other levers.
Due to this advantage, third-class levers are spread all over human anatomy,
notably in our arms. The application of its mechanics will be described in Chapter
V.

Next, Ortmann (1929) elaborate on the functions and anatomical propertiesof the skeleton and muscles. In the chapter on the skeleton, Ortmann firstemphasises the importance of the radio-ulnar joint. He thinks the radio-ulnar joint
is key for the forearm rotation, but not the wrist joint, because the axis of forearm rotation extends through the head of the ulna in a line with the fourth fingerof the extended hand, not the third finger. 99 While nowadays some instructors
still believe that the axis is the third finger, this viewpoint seems to be influenced
by the old school. Then, the vertical and horizontal movements are discussed in
the following section of the book. Each movement is explained in relation to theshoulder, elbow, wrist, and finger joints to reveal their anatomical properties. At
last, each joint’s application in piano techniques is discussed. (pp. 19-39) Thissection will be mentioned in Chapter V because it is a scientific way of playing
and will significantly improve practice efficiency of adolescent beginners.

99

Ortmann, Otto. (1929) The Physiological Mechanics of Piano Technique. London: Kegan Paul,

Trench, Trübner & Co. p. 16.

185

In the chapters on muscle, Ortmann (1929) provides eight foundational
techniques to explain muscular state, properties, and coordination. It is worth
noticing that Ortmann explicates the mechanism of rigidity. Physiologically,
there are two conditions that produce rigidity: when the production rate of lactic
acid is higher than its decomposition rate, and when the antagonistic muscles arecontracted simultaneously. (pp. 57-59)

When rigidity reaches an unnecessary degree, or when it is unnecessarily
present in some joint not acting as a transmission-point for the force, does it
constitutes what the piano teachers calls “stiffness” … if the rigidity ispresent in a joint where movement would facilitate the total action, thecondition seriously interferes with the ease, accuracy, and speed of the
movement.100
Consequently, it is indispensable to rest appropriately in piano practice, and therest motions which is hidden under the sleeve during playing to avoid fatigue andstiffness. On the other hand, muscular synergy is requisite, and can help pianists
prevent hand injury.

At the end of Part I, Ortmann introduces the principles of the nervous system.
He advocates that student need to do some finger exercises before playing the
piano, which can promote blood circulation. More importantly, Ortmann realisesthat the motor area of the brain and adequate blood supply are supporting a100

Ibid., p. 58.

186

function vital to the nerves and muscles in piano playing. This is the basis ofcontemporary scientific piano performance research. (Ortmann, 1929)

Part II is about weight touch. We can find that Ortmann’s weight-touch is an
updated version of Breithaupt. Ortmann integrates Newton’s third law of motion,
the inertia law, and the muscular contraction principle in discussing themechanism of weight transfer (Ortmann, 1929). This transmission mechanism
will significantly enhance the performance efficiency of scales, arpeggios, andother skills, and achieve economical movements.

In Part III, the last part, Ortmann integrates the theories of physics,
physiology, and kinematics with the piano playing methods that the preceding
two parts have discussed, including reasonable body actions and how to achieve
economical playing (Ortmann, 1929). However, because of Ortmann’s viewpointon physiology and physics, his methods are not proper for young children, but
the matured piano player. Therefore, in Chapter V and my future research, I willrefer to Ortmann’s methods for working out an efficient and scientific piano
method for adolescent beginners.

If Ortmann’s weight touch is an updated version of Breithaupt’s method,
Tobias Matthay’s piano methods can be said to be an updated 2.0 version ofweight-touch. Matthay 101 wrote two celebrated and representative piano method

101

Tobias Augustus Matthay (1858-1945) was a British pianist, composer and educator.

187

books, The Act of Touch in All Its Diversity, published in 1903 and The Visible
and Invisible in Pianoforte Technique, published in 1932. The second book was
published in almost the same period as Ortmann’s method. Both discuss piano
playing based on the physiological principles of muscular function. However,their focus is different.

The Act of Touch in All Its Diversity mainly discusses the key touch andkeystroke using physiological principles, including muscle shape, physicalexecution, and other body functions. It then mentions lever manipulation ofweight and muscles, which is like Ortmann, revealing that Matthay also believes
that the lever’s function in piano playing is essential. As the first experimental
work of Matthay, The Act of Touch lays the foundation for the “invisible” contentsof the next book, The Visible and Invisible in Pianoforte Technique.

Concerning the title of the book, visible and invisible insinuates that there
are actions and reactions we can observe by our eyes directly, as well as things
we cannot observe directly; there are actions and reactions hidden under thesleeve of pianist. As Matthay (1932) mentions in the book, limb stress is a kindof visible and invisible muscular problem, and it is a critical point that teachers
should help students understand (p. ix).

At the beginning of Matthay’s book, he emphasises that techniques do not
originate from the mechanical practice of hands but from the music itself.

188

(Matthay, The Visible and Invisible in Pianoforte Technique, 1932) Therefore,
students should focus not only on the technical practice of hands but also on
understanding music. Establishing a bridge between musicality and techniqueswith hands is the essential substance of Matthay’s research on piano performance.
Undoubtedly, if you want to understand music, students should receive athorough grounding in music theory. Furthermore, Matthay (1932) refuted
anatomical research in piano playing; however, he asserts that direct sensation isa valuable and vital key (p. 15). Thus, he underscores the importance of
psychology and physical awareness during piano playing. However, although
Matthay realised this critical point, this book still lacks a discussion of the roleof the nervous system. Nevertheless, his conclusion brings enlightenment toresearch in the 21st century.

Another important point in Matthay’s book is his insight concerning the two
types of finger positions, bent and flat. Matthay considered neither position to beright or wrong; they should be used according to the type of notes and the size ofthe player’s hand (Matthay, 1932). I believe that most students and even teachers
nowadays have been confused by this problem. These two positions are related
to the function and cooperation of big and small hand muscles. Therefore,
distinguishing and using these two kinds of muscles is necessary. Moreover, weneed to remember that the direction of finger movement on the keys should
always be vertical, which is the same as Ortmann’s method.

189

Matthay (1932) divided arm movements into six functions: 1) The balanced
arm, which includes arm vibration, weight transfer, and hand exertions; 2)
Forearm rotation, which is considered an essential technique for piano playing.
Matthay believes it can solve all finger-work problems. Arm rotation has always
been emphasised in past piano methods, but it was only from Deppe-Caland that
we realized the true role of this technique more rationally through scientificmethods. Unless late beginners obtain the rotation technique, they are not able topractice effectively. However, rotation cannot be used for rapid passages insteadof finger movement. 3) Forearm weight; 4) Whole arm weight; 5) Forearm fallwith upper arm weight; 6) Upper arm forward dig. Matthay thinks that the first
two functions should be used flexibly according to different music, and the last
four functions can only be used on keystrokes. (pp. 26-39)

Matthay (1932) mentions that the first thing beginners should do is relaxing
arms, particularly those who were previously mistaught or have inherited muscle
tension or unhealthy performance practices. He also notes that it should bepractised without a keyboard. (pp. 123-124) Thus, we can see that Matthay thinks
proper physical exercise is beneficial. This viewpoint is similar to Breithaupt’s,
which also has beginners learn to relax and use the arms at first (Breithaupt,
1909). Moreover, Matthay reiterates the principle of the lever and its applicationin the body and emphasises that both piano teachers and students need someknowledge of physiology and kinematics (Matthay, 1932). The scientificknowledge will help learners better understand their body function and190

coordination, and it will help instructors guide different students with highefficiency.

Matthay as the founder of modern piano method research inherited the styleof Deppe-Caland and Breithaupt, we need to pay more attention to the techniquesthat Matthay found hidden under the pianist’s sleeve. He developed his piano
method based on predecessors, especially Breithaupt, and brought them into thescientific stage to improve the practice efficiency of students. Furthermore,
Matthay’s viewpoints and thoughts have led to a surge in scientific explorationin piano methods, which can be found in the following two methods I will
introduce, both from America. They summarised previous methods andpedagogies and inserted much more scientific argumentation. The first methodfrom William S. Newman 102.

Newman wrote a book, The Pianist’s Problems, which was published in 1956.
Strictly speaking, this book is not a definitive method book in the 20th century
because it is more like a practical investigation report, which examines plenty ofdifficulties, bad habits, and weaknesses among pianists and piano students.
Moreover, through utilising a series of scientific measures and combined withdaily life activities, Newman discusses how to overcome those difficulties andcultivate good piano playing habits. Since this book is easy to understand andcontains a large number of daily piano practice problems and solutions, it should

102

William Stein Newman (1912-2000) was an American musicologist.

191

be read and studied by piano players and learners. However, in my research, it isalso useful as a method and reference for adolescent beginners and instructors,
and they should read it and try to avoid those problems at the beginning of piano
learning.

Newman (1984) thinks that four factors should be paid attention to in music
learning: musicianship, technique, practice, and performance. Regarding the first
factor, Newman emphasises the importance of ear-playing, which plays anessential role in sight-reading, memorisation, and helps to play music fluently.
(pp. 5-18) For adolescent beginners, sight-reading is a ubiquitous problem, andear-playing is another problem among late beginners. Hence, Newman’s method
can be used for those students. Additionally, memorisation is necessary when
students start to learn a new piece because only by remembering the notes as fast
as possible can players better focus on the music itself. Moreover, Newman’s
perspective on posture and position is more natural and lends more agility, which
will be discussed in Chapter V.

About techniques, Newman (1984) believes that players should deal withtechnique according to their individual physiological conditions. He notes thatfactors include,

192

Natural bodily grace, the nervous system’s responses, the size and shape ofthe hand, the length and web of the fingers, “breaking” at the finger joints,
and general pliability.103
Thus, Newman’s ideas are related to the methods of Breithaupt and Ortmann.
Natural motion comes from Breithaupt and the Lever principle from Ortmann.
Simultaneously, Newman’s method for beginners is also the same as Breithaupt’s,
in which students should obtain the rotation skills and learn how to relax theirarms at first. Newman deeply analyses the interrelation between weight touchand gravity utilisation, which leads us to observe weight touch and weighttransfer clearly. On the other hand, Newman has caught sight of the individual
differences of the human body and discusses when one should use bent or flat
fingers (Newman, 1984). Actually, these problems have bothered students for along time but are now became more accessible to understand due to Newman’s
explanation, especially concerning weight touch (gravity utilisation).

In the second half of Newman’s book, he talks about efficient piano practicemethods. Newman believes that practise should be based on the three foundations:notes, fingering, and counting. Moreover, students should pay attention to theself-regulation of mental concentration where it is easy to make mistakes whenplaying the piano (Newman, 1984). Newman agrees with the importance of music
theory and considers it is essential to cultivate the sense of rhythm. Furthermore,
Newman realises the influence of the psychological side. In general, because the103

Newman, Stein William. (1984) The Pianist’s Problems. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 38.

193

cognitive ability of adolescents is far higher than that of children, I believe suchlearning methods from Newman will be effective for them.

Compared with the previous methods, Newman’s method is more beneficial
as a reference for instructors, and its practicability can be confirmed. We canintuitively see the problems among piano players, and these practical problems
have been dialectically and solved one by one, and the practicability andeffectiveness of the solutions have been proved. Consequently, Newman’s
method will be recommended for adolescent beginners and instructors.

There is another method written by a piano educator who inherited Ortmann’s
style, the Abby Whiteside 104 . She published three major books: The Pianist’s
Mechanism (1929), Indispensable of Piano Playing (1961), and Mastering the
Chopin Etude and Other Essays (1969). The last two of the books were publishedafter Whiteside’s death.

In the book Indispensable of Piano Playing, many perspectives are similar
to Deppe-Caland and Ortmann. The Deppe-Caland methods explain the relations
between hand, wrist, forearm, and upper arm, while Ortmann’s methods containthe insights concerning leverage. Whiteside fused their two methods in her book.
However, the difference is that Whiteside believes the wrist’s fulcrum is thefinger, the forearm’s is the wrist, the upper arm’s is the forearm, the shoulder’s104

Abby Whiteside (1881-1956) was an American piano educator.

194

is the upper arm, and the upper body’s is the shoulder (Whiteside, 1961). As amatter of fact, as a fulcrum should be the joint of each locomotive organ, thefulcrum of each lever is the MCP joint, radioulnar joint, elbow joint, and shoulder
joint.

Whiteside discussed the interrelation between muscle and skeleton. Skeleton
structure is an element of resistance, and it helps muscles do more effective
actions. She believes that the body is not only the fulcrum of the whole arm but
also closely linked with rhythm. Additionally, she also thinks that good rhythm
is the basis of score reading. Whiteside’s research on rhythm far overweighedthat of her predecessors. Rhythm is not only a musical concept but also a bondconnecting the instrument to the performer. Therefore, she asserts that rhythm
learning should be the first step for piano beginners in her method. (Whiteside,
1961)

On the other hand, in playing, Whiteside’s research on the locomotive organs
goes further than Ortmann’s. Whiteside analyses playing mechanisms related todisplacement, which includes horizontal, vertical, and in-and-out motions.
(Whiteside, 1961). Her research can provide a more efficient way to play the
piano because the mechanical principle can prove its efficiency from physicalviewpoint. It is a kind of function of energy transformation, and the formula is
𝑊 = 𝐹𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃. The work W is done by the force F on its moved distance s. 𝜃 is195the angle of the motion. This physical relationship will be discussed in Chapter
V with the contents of economical movements in piano playing.

In addition, Whiteside also discusses score memorisation. She refutes three
ways to memorise music: only depending on ears, muscular memory, and sightmemory. Whiteside thinks that musicians usually memorise scores throughthinking and analysing music. (Whiteside, 1961) For students, ear andtransposition training are efficient ways to score memorisation. Transposition
practice requires good music theories as the base. Therefore, in Whiteside’s
method, knowledge of music theory is also necessary.

Generally speaking, Whiteside’s method has many bright spots and uniquepoints. In piano teaching, she also gives many suggestions, such as the idea that
piano learning should start from ear training instead of finger practice, and thosestudents then need to study physical movements and intellectual processes,
followed by rhythm (Whiteside, 1969). Her purpose is identical to Breithaupt’s,
which seeks to achieve natural playing. It should not violate the basic kinematics
and physiological functions of the human body but should comply with thephysical rules of nature.

At the end of this chapter, I will discuss the last method, The Technique ofPiano Playing, written by József Gát 105. He was a famous music educator in

105

József Gát (1913-1967) was a Hungarian piano educator, who was a pupil of Béla Bartók.

196

Hungary who devoted his whole life to piano education, and also trained somefamous pianists, such as Márta Kurtág 106 and Claudette Sorel 107.

The whole book integrates the basic principles of anatomy and physics, but
in a way different from the previous methods. Gát’s book does not merely
describe these principles but also explains each technique through thephysiological functions of the joints, body parts, and mechanics, and reveals therelationship between speed and displacement. Because Gát discussed these ideas
in simple words, it is more accessible for non-scientists and music learners to
read.

Firstly, Gát’s book introduces the basic structure of the piano and simple
anatomical knowledge and introduces Gát’s technique – Swing-Stroke. He
analyses the locomotive organs used in the swing-stroke (Gát, 1968). This
technique runs through the whole book and is considered extremely important byGát. Swing-stroke is a playing technique based on the lever principle and rotation.
Therefore, to learn this technique, we need the correct sitting posture for themechanical foundation.

As for the method of practice, Gát advocates practising with a slow tempo.
He believes that practising in a slow tempo can enhance the fluency of music and106

Márta Kurtág (1927-2019) was a Hungarian pianist and educator, a wife of György Kurtág.

107

Claudette Sorel (1932-1999) was a French American pianist and educator.

197

let the brain have more time to think. Moreover, forming unconditioned reflexesin practice can reduce errors and impel players to turn attention to cultivatingmusical ideas (Gát, 1968). From Gát’s viewpoint, we can see that through theintervention of visible physical and physiological characteristics, the invisible
physical and physiological characteristics can be changed to achieve the ultimate
goal. However, it is almost the same as Matthay’s method, which relies on theinsights of psychology and neuroscience.

Secondly, Gát also mentioned most of the piano playing techniques andemphasises the use of the arm. However, when discussing finger position, he isconsiderate of the fact that the higher overtones fade more slowly. (Gát, 1968)
Therefore, in order to ensure good sound, the fingers should stick to the keys asmuch as possible, just like the key is an extension of the arm. Raising fingers toohigh inhibits good sound. Consequently, no matter what technique, the finger
should move with the shortest path to the keyboard. Through acoustic analysis,
Gát refutes the high finger school’s approach to tone production. At the sametime, he considers the physiological characteristics of each finger explains themethods of each performance technique in detail. These approaches can help
adolescent beginners in their learning.

At last, Gát thinks that physical finger exercise is helpful to the training of
innervation of the nervous system, and can practise fingers without a piano;
therefore, he offers physical finger exercises (Gát, 1968). Similar methods are198

often used in modern piano education, such as Alexander techniques andgymnastics related to relaxing the body. As Breithaupt said, the first thing to learnin piano is how to relax the body. According to the questionnaire results in
Chapter III, this statement is proved correct and vital for adolescent beginners.

In general, for adolescent beginners, Gát’s method is worthy of reference andstudy. His realisation of individual personal differences makes his methods more
efficient, and he has the foresight to understand the importance of cultivating andtraining the nervous system and minding one’s state of consciousness in piano
playing.

The representative methods of the 20th century that can be used foradolescent beginners I found have all been introduced. These methods focus not
only on hand techniques as they did in the last two centuries but also on cognition
and music itself. Therefore, they require students to practise cognitive abilities
and acquire basic music theory knowledge. At the same time, pianists andresearchers have applied principles of anatomy and physical mechanics to piano
performance, and this makes it easier for teachers and students to understandsuch complex movements. On the other hand, these methods comprehensively
describe piano playing techniques and have more profound explanations for199

memorisation and sight-reading. For the development of these ideas, you canrefer to the following Table 4.5108:

108

Hungary (HU)200

Table 4.5
The summary of the 20th century’s methods(FR)
I.
Philipp

Body position
Hand position
andmovement
Wrist-use
Fingerposition andmovement
Arm position
andmovement
Touch

(DE)
R. M.
Breithaupt(US)O.
Ortmann

◯
◯

◯

(UK)
T.
Matthay(US)
W. S.
Newman(US)A.
Whiteside

(HU)
J.
Gát

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Scale

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Arpeggio
Intervals(double-notes,
octave)Chords

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Rhythm

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

Phrasing
Ornaments
Fingering
Shake(Tremolo)
Pedal
Musical terms
Note, Mark,
Solmization
Muscular,
Relaxation
Weight-use
Sight reading
Skeleton
Memorisation

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯
◯

◯

◯

◯
*Made by the author

201

From Table 4.5, we can see that during the 20th century, some methods
finally appeared in the United States, and that because its highly developed
technology, a large number of scientific and empirical studies were carried out.
The discussion of basic performance techniques focused on the scientificprinciples of movement in performance. They thought that only scientific andnatural movements can quickly solve technical problems. Furthermore, more andmore pianists and researchers thought that technique comes from musicality;
therefore, the importance of music theory has been generally accepted.

This chapter can help us trace how music education evolved over the past
three centuries. In that time, most musicians have been activated in educationaland compositional fields. They have made achievements not only in piano
education but also in music works that have been handed down for centuries.
However, some musicians are known only as composers or pianists, such as Hook,
Dussek, Steibelt, Hummel, Chopin, Liszt, Kalkbrenner, and Bartók; somemusicians are more known as educators, such as Logier, Deppe, Breithaupt,
Spencer, Ortmann, Whiteside, and Sándor; and some musicians are known ascomposers, pianists, and educators, such as Clementi, Bach, Czerny, andLeschetizky. It is not that they have made achievements only in the fields thatthey are famous for nowadays, but because the legacies they left in the long roadof music development have attached certain stereotypes to them. First, I will
discuss what lead to this phenomenon. Secondly, I will conclude what impact thisphenomenon brings to our piano music education and predict future trends.
202

In the 18th century, Clementi and Bach created the glory of the Baroque andClassical periods, whereas, behind this glory, many musical works werecomposed for students to practise techniques. Although the purpose was forpractice, it inadvertently led to many celebrated works. During this period,
instrumental music was created more spontaneously, and people still only usedmusical instruments as a means to express music. Those etudes are all based on
the original intention – conveying musicality while achieving a secondary
purpose of finger practice.

In the 19th century, education and music seemed to develop separately. In
terms of music, it goes without saying that everyone studied great works at thattime. In terms of education, perhaps we are not so familiar with the practices ofthat century. Like the musicians and pianists mentioned in this chapter
systematically made playing methods for the techniques required for diversified
music expression. Nevertheless, a few musicians were famous for both music andeducation, such as Czerny. During this period, the structure of piano instruments
significantly changed, and the richness of sounds improved beyond precedent.
Empowered by increased capabilities of their instruments, musicians were able
to create monumental works. However, these works appeared rapidly and in large
quantities, requiring more sophisticated playing techniques and causing more
students to become overwhelmed. Therefore, to help students acquire thesetechniques as fast as possible, more and more systematic playing methods andpedagogies have been bred. As a result, more musicians have become focused on203studying education, and the two paths of musical performance and education
diverged. In the late 19th century, the scientific approach was inserted into piano
method and pedagogy research. This approach includes physical mechanics,
kinematics, and anatomy. However, the application of kinematics disappeared in
the 20th century because the focus of research shifted to the nervous system.

In the 20th century, the separation of performance and education was moremarked. The innovation of piano structure has slowed down, and music
composition became more focused on expressing the possibilities of piano
acoustics. Although some playing techniques are still undergoing innovation, thepace in this area has also slowed down. This brings opportunities for the researchof playing methods and pedagogies. Those traditional methods can be evaluatedscientifically, tested, and improved for teaching. The famous ones are weight
touch, physiological mechanics in piano playing, and muscular synergy, and they
were accepted generally among pianists and instructors. In the middle and late
20th century, neuroscience research was booming, leading researchers to focus
on the relationship between the human brain and music, and simultaneously
verifying the scientific accuracy of traditional methods through experiments.

Piano education still uses traditional pedagogies nowadays. The instructor’s
strategy usually integrates traditional playing methods to pursue smooth andbeautiful music expression. Even in some countryside, piano education still uses
the 19th century’s practice methods to pursue high finger technique blindly. This204

impedes the application of efficient and scientific methods and pedagogies.
Nevertheless, these traditional didactic works contain simple music, which canhelp adolescent beginners gain a deeper understanding of music theory inpractice. However, the pieces we often use have to take into account the complex
movement of fingers and the underlying musical concept, which is extremely
difficult for those adolescent beginners who need to achieve specific goals in ashort time. Therefore, we should rediscover those forgotten works to find suitablepieces, and then we can provide adolescent beginners with more beneficial
choices.

In conclusion, we must admit that musical works with excellent musicality
can always be handed down. However, as an instructor, you should not only findappropriate music works for students according to their characteristics andinterests but also refer to current trends of music. Therefore, when instructors
teach adolescent beginners, besides extracting available methods from the past
three centuries’ pedagogies and methods, they should also constantly evolve theirstrategies by consulting contemporary research and implementing it in practice,because practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.

205

Chapter V: The Piano Pedagogy for Adolescent
Beginners
Chapter I has discussed the background and reveals the purpose of providing
efficient and scientific piano pedagogies for instructors to help them guideadolescent beginners. In Chapter II and Chapter III, the theory and practice studyof adolescent physiological characteristics reveals their internal body situationand the reality of education. It provides theoretical and actual evidence for the
making of pedagogies; finally, I concluded the difficulties that adolescent
beginners encounter when playing the piano. Then, I have reorganised theteaching methods of the past three centuries and extracted practical methods foradolescent beginners in Chapter IV. Moreover, as an example, according to mylearning, practice, and teaching experience, also based on physiological, physical,
and acoustic principles, I proposed a part of piano pedagogies for instructors to
help them find effective strategies for adolescent beginners.

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As for the contents of this chapter, it will put forward several problems
related to adolescent beginners and draw further insights from the conclusions of
the previous chapters. Traditional and modern methods will be compared, and theresults of contemporary research into neuroscience and kinesiology will bementioned. Moreover, this chapter will discuss the methods for basic techniques
according to the principles of mathematic, physics, physiology and acoustics.
The purpose is to bring some new and highly efficient strategies to instructors.
This chapter include following parts: playing posture, body coordination andrelaxation, how to read music, how to play scales, arpeggios and how tounderstand and practice finger independence, several supplements for daily
practice.

5.1 Posture

Posture refers to the whole-body shape. In kinematics, the relative positionof the head, trunk, limbs, and other body parts is called attitude, and therelationship between the anatomical plane109 and the direction of gravity is called
position (Nakamura, Saito, & Nagasaki, 2006).

Human beings living on the earth are always affected by the earth’s gravity,
and at the same time, in daily life, we are also affected by many other external
forces. Human skeletons, muscles, and neural receptors maintain a particular

109

Anatomical planes in human include the sagittal plane, the coronal plane, and the horizontal plane.

207

posture and resist external loads. (The forces interacting between skeletons,
muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other types of tissue are internal forces.) The
effect of these external forces is transmitted to the brain through the central
nervous system, and then the brain sends orders to various locomotive organs tooffset the resistance with a series of coordinated functions. For example, when
you take the bus, you grab the bus handle, and suddenly the bus stops. However,
because of the inertia, you will continue to move in the same direction at theoriginal speed of the bus. At this time, to prevent damage to the body caused by
the inertial force, your brain will give orders to the limbs and related locomotive
organs, causing the muscles of the arm and other parts to contract to create aforce opposite to the direction of inertial force, which can offset a portion of theinertial force. In this way, the body’s speed can be reduced as fast as possible,
and your body will avoid being injured. At the same time, friction also helps the
body to slow down.

The example above first shows how forces in opposite directions can cancelout each other. Second, it illustrates how external forces can form an
unconditioned response in the human brain, thereby rapidly stimulating the brain
to unconsciously generate a protective response in the body. Third, the centre ofgravity is closely related to the stability of body posture, the centre of gravity
being the point where the weight of each part of the body balances with eachother. Therefore, to keep an efficient posture we need the coordination of208multiple parts of the body. So, what are the conditions for a scientific andefficient posture?

This question can be mainly explained through the mechanical, physiological,
and psychological aspects. From the mechanical aspect, in the stationary posture,
the centre of gravity axis that balances the head, trunk, and limb segments is
located in the support base, and the closer to the centre of the support base, thebetter the stability. From the physiological aspect, if the same posture ismaintained for a long time, the volume of blood circulation relieving the muscles
decreases, and muscle fatigue occurs. Therefore, changing the posture reduces
muscle fatigue, even if it is difficult while doing movements. On the other hand,overstrain leads to strong muscle contraction which also causes stagnation ofblood circulation. It should be noted that the posture in which internal organs
such as those of the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the digestivesystem, and the urinary system are not excessively compressed or burdened isstable. Furthermore, in sports physiology, we should try to reduce energy
consumption and improve motions’ efficiency by using more minor muscles toachieve the purpose of action. From the psychological aspect, posture is strongly
influenced by individual personality and emotions, and reflects the psychologicalstate present at any moment (Nakamura, Saito, & Nagasaki, 2006).

Thus, it can be seen that posture is not only affected by external factors,
which are related to mechanics, but is also influenced by internal factors arising209

from physiology and psychology. Therefore, the human body needs to skilfully
use mechanical knowledge and adjust the interior elements to maintain a good
posture.

The quality of body posture control depends on neuromuscular performance(Kilby, Molenaar, & Newell, 2015).

…Neuromuscular system to functionally control and drive movements by anappropriate integration, coordination and use of sensory feedback, reflex
activity, central motor drive, muscle recruitment pattern, muscular
excitation-contraction coupling, and energy availability...110

Therefore, the neuromuscular system is related to movement and posture and thesensitivity of the nerve system, the relaxation of the body, and the efficient useof locomotive organs. Moreover, all these factors are particularly important inefficient piano performance.

On the other hand, as I mentioned in Chapter II, the proprioceptive senses
are related to body position and movement. There are many receptors in the skin,muscles, and joints of the human body. These receptors are used to sense pain or
external stimuli and sense the movement and position of motor organs. Moreover,110

Faude, Oliver and Lars Donath (2019) “Editorial: Neuromuscular Performance During Lifespan:

Assessment Methods and Exercise Interventions.” Frontiers in Physiology, 10:1348, Doi:
10.3389/fphys.2019.01348.

210

proprioception is a development where the precision improves with age, while
its receptors’ sensitivity decreases with age. Therefore, a correct posture
becomes particularly important for adolescent piano beginners. Meanwhile,
teachers need to remind them all the time to form a good performance posture.

Ludwig and his team investigated whether body posture can be enhanced by
improving neuromuscular performance in adolescents. They divide objects into
three groups: TR18 (training until the age of 18 then stopping), TR20
(uninterpreted training until the age of 20 years) and CON (non-exercising
control group). This research has found a significant improvement with posture
positions, including the changes of stretch and body perception among TR18 andTR20. Moreover, they found that when muscles are controlled purposefully,
conscious posture correction is enabled. And they concluded that throughadequate training, habitual posture could be improved as well. (Ludwig, Kelm,
Hammes, Schmitt, & Fröhlich, 2018) However, this process needs an excellent
proprioceptive perception of the joint positions. Therefore, the proprioceptive
perception of the body position should be trained regularly.

Based on these conclusions, adolescent beginners can improve their postureand joint positions through systematic practice, and furthermore, the precise
perceptions involved in playing can be improved. In the following words, I will
first discuss how the playing posture develops and then talk about reasonable andscientific playing postures according to the piano methods mentioned in the last211

chapter. Secondly, I will make a mechanical analysis of the performance of bodyand hand postures to evaluate their effectiveness. Finally, I will put forward somesuggestions for piano playing posture by considering the characteristics ofadolescents discussed in Chapter II.

Initially, in the last chapter, I discussed three centuries of piano methods andpedagogies. I found there are many methods and strategies for piano practice thatcan be used for late beginners. At the same time, for comparison I have assembled
the following performance postures recommended according to the past
pedagogies discussed in Chapter IV, it includes fingers, hands, wrists, and arms.
And it is summarised in chronological order.

Diruta (1622)-

Sit opposite to the middle of the Organ-

Do not make gestures or movements with the body, but sit with body and headerect and poised-

Let the arm guide the hand so that the hand is always level with it, neither
higher nor lower-

Fingers should lie evenly on the keys, somewhat curved-

Fingers should press the keys rather than striking them; the fingers being
lifted as the keys rise-

Keep the hand relaxed and light

Couperin (1717)-

The distance from the keyboard when sitting down is about 9 inches to thewaist for adults and less for young people; it depends on the age.

-

Sit opposite to the middle of the keyboard.

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-

Turn your body slightly to the right, and do not put your knees too close
together-

The appropriate age for a child to learn keyboard is 6 to 7 years old-

Do not raise your wrists too high-For soft playing, bring your fingers closer to the keyboard

Johann Sebastian Bach (Forkel, 1802)-

Fingers bent, extremities poised perpendicularly over the keys and parallel tothem-Fingers cannot fall or be thrown upon the notes-

Move only the top points of fingers-

Fingers rest upon the keys-

Bach recognized the differences in fingers

Clementi (1803)-

The hand and arm should be held in a horizontal position-

Fingers are placed over the keys and always ready to strike-

Fingers are bent, more or less in proportion to their length

Graupner (1806)-

The hand and arm should be held in a horizontal position-

Fingers are placed over the keys and always ready to strike-

Fingers are bent, more or less in proportion to their length

Hummel (1828)-

Sit opposite to the middle of the keyboard at a distance of 6~10 inches-

The seat should be neither too high nor too low

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-

The body is held upright, and the elbows are turned towards the body, yet
without pressing against it-

Regarding muscles: Arms and hands should be held without any stiffness-

Hand position is rounded, resting on the keys naturally and without effort-

Strike the keys with the middle of the tip of the fingers. The thumb may forma horizontal line with the little finger on the keyboard-

The thumb touches the surface of the keys lightly with the edge of its top
joints and is always ready to pass under the fingers-

Fingers should move with lightness and freedom and not be lifted too highfrom the keys

Czerny (1839)-

The seat must be placed opposite the middle of the keyboard-

The ends of the elbows may be about an inch higher than the upper surface of
the keys, for a low seat impedes and fatigues the hands-

The position of head and chest should be upright, dignified and natural,
avoiding any movement of the head-

Feet should rest near the pedals but without touching them-

The wrist must neither be bent downwards nor upwards-

Fingers are bent inwards slightly-

The knuckles of the bent fingers must form a straight and horizontal line-

Avoid bending the other fingers (except the thumb) inwardly-

All fingertips, as well as the thumb in its natural outstretched position, should
form a straight line-

Arms hang freely by their natural weight from elbow

Latour (1832)-

Sit with ease opposite the centre of the keyboard, at a moderate distance-Play without any motion of the head moving up and down-

The wrist is held almost at the same level as the forearm, with knuckles kept
almost flat

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-

The three extended fingers are slightly bent with the little finger creating astraight line with other fingers.

-

The thumb should be a little bent-

The arm should not be kept too close to the body

Herz (1838)-

The seat is proportioned to the pupil’s height and that of the keyboard-

Sit upright and in the middle of the piano-

Feet are placed opposite the pedals-

Hands are rounded-

Fingers are bent without stiffness, allowing each finger particular andindependent motion-

The part of the arm below the elbow should be horizontal-

The arm should not move if the hand does not change its position

Bertini (1848)-

Using pictures to illustrate correct body position-

Sit in front of the middle of the keyboard with the body held erect-

The wrists should be turned outward, and with arms forming a straight line(not too high or too low)-

The keys are struck with the extremities of the fingers, but not with the nails-

The wrists and arms should form a straight line-

Strike the keys from the fingers, from the wrists, or from the forearm

Spencer (1853)-

Place the fingers in as straight a line as possible with the keys they are upon-

Raise the whole hand about an inch above the keys, keeping each finger inline with its key, without stiffness-

Always keep the fingers parallel with the keys

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Richardson (1859)-

The seat should be the correct height, with the player sitting opposite themiddle of the keyboard-

The head and upper part of the chest is neither stiff nor bent (body upright)-

The hand does not rise upward, nor is it bent-

Fingers bend, while one finger strikes the key with the other fingers are kept
near the keys, but consistently bent and raised somewhat in the air-

The thumb always strikes the key with its narrow external surface and is alittle bent-

The forearm should form a perfectly straight, horizontal line-

The arms hang freely without being pressed against the body

Plaidy (1852)-

Sit opposite to the middle of the keyboard, the seat at a height allowing theelbows to be a little above the level of the keyboard-

Avoid motions of the head, shoulders, and upper body-

The centre of gravity of the hand in playing should fall inwards-

The wrist is neither perceptibly raised nor lowered. It should lie at the samelevel as the hand and arm-

Regarding the fingers: the knuckles must neither be raised nor bent inwards;
the fore part of the fingers must be gently rounded with the 4th and 5th fingers
a little more extended. And the thumb should be stretched horizontally-

The arm should be kept close to the body, though without touching it

Pauer (1877)-

Sit before the middle of the keyboard with the music stool firm and secure-

Hand position is illustrated with pictures, the centre of gravity of the handwhen playing should fall towards the thumb-

The wrist is neither perceptibly raised nor lowered and is held at level withthe hand and arm-

Knuckles are neither raised to form a hollow in the hand nor bent inwards
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-

The forepart of the fingers must be gently rounded-

The 3rd and 4th fingers are not as rounded as the others but should be aslightly more extended-

The thumb is stretched horizontally and is never permitted to hang down or
to rest upon the keyboard-

Arm movements should be graceful and easy

Leschetizky (1902)-

Keep nails short-

A rounded hand position is illustrated-

The wrist be held somewhat lower than the knuckles-

Tip joints of fingers fall vertically on the keys-

Fingers are unequal in length-

The upper arm does not follow the wrist-motion

Philipp (1908)-

The wrist is held loosely and relatively low-

The knuckles are rounded-

The fingers are curved, with only the tips striking the keys-

The nails should be kept short-

The two joints of the thumb are bent towards the other fingers

Breithaupt (1909)-

The height of the seat is determined solely by the size and proportions of theplayer’s physique, more especially by those of the upper and lower body-

The muscles of the lower body and the abdomen must be relaxed, allowing
the body freedom of movement-

The player sits opposite the centre of the instrument-

A firm ball shaped hand bridge (arch) should be maintained.

-

A yielding wrist is required

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-

Fingers should be straightened out slightly to support the weight bone by thepalm, arched to form a bridge-

Knuckle-joints of fingers do not bend in creating tension-

The arm should hang loose and is inactive in the shoulder joint, and it should
be supported by the hands or fingers

Matthay (1932)-

Avoid sitting too close to the instrument, with upper arm straight down fromthe shoulder-

Sitting neither too high nor too low-

Do not relax your body completely, keep it erect-

Avoid kinking the knuckles of the hand; the arch shape is mechanically more
effective than any other position-

Allow the wrist to turn slightly outwards-

Flat and bent fingers are discussed-

Avoid using upper arm rotatory movements as they are a waste of energy andis also distinctly inelegant. Avoiding using the arm to help the fingers to play
the notes

Newman (1956)-

His illustration is included to show body pliability and adaptability-

The bench is not too be high or too low; sit on the front half of the bench
about 10 inches, from the surface of the keys down to the compressed top of
the bench-

Bad eyesight influences position-

The edge of the knees should be no more than an inch or two under the
keyboard-

The feet rest on the “balls” of the outer pedals-

Hand function is the converse of finger function-

Do not play by impulses from the arm-

Flat-finger playing is best achieved using the small muscles (lumbricals) of
the hand218

-The elbows are held several inches out from the body; elbow tips are always
on a level with the fingertips if the performer is sitting at the right heightAs can be seen from above, from the 18th century to the 20th century there
has been a point of consensus concerning body posture, which is the idea that the
piano stool must be adjusted to an appropriate height, not too high or too low.
However, scientific grounding for this was not provided until the end of the 19th
century. Deppe conducted a practical analysis, and he recommended that thosewith a large body and long arms should sit lower, and those with short bodies
and thick-set arms should sit higher, which is identical to Breithaupt’sprescription (Breithaupt, 1909). According to the lever principle, the arm can be
regarded as a lever and the elbow as the fulcrum. Assuming that the height of the
piano keys and the distance between person and instrument remains unchanged,
if the person with long arms sits high, the distance of the torque gets shorter,
which means the elbow will move to the back of the body, which makes the lever
movement harder and less flexible. Adolescent beginners are not like children
who cannot reach the ground with their feet. Hence, they should adjust the seatheight to place their right foot close to the damper pedal, and their left foot should
support the body and stabilise the centre of gravity. Additionally, Shin and La(2005) proved that a performer sitting in a high seat could produce a significantly
large force with the deltoid muscle, and they indicated that the performer shouldsit erect and with a levelled forearm.

219

Consequently, regarding the height of the seat, instructors need to think about
not only the ratio of the student’s height, but also the length and thickness of thearms; instructors should measure the optimal seat height for adolescent beginners
by using the principle of leverage.

The past methods have mentioned that players should sit erect, and Chapter
III also concludes that some late beginners have a common problem with posture,
which is the “hunchback” position. According to the conditions required for astable centre of gravity mentioned above, at first, students need to set the verticalaxis from the head to the hips, with the hips acting as hips as a fulcrum. The
vertical axis should be perpendicular to the horizontal axis formed by theshoulders, which means the line between the two shoulder joints and the linefrom the head to the hips form a shape of the cross. Here is a method for players
to check whether they are sitting upright: First, put hands on the ischium, andthen sit down slowly. At this time, do not move your hands; and they should bepressed on the piano stool by your hips. When the ischium feels a little pain
because of the pressure of the hands, pull the hands out. At this point, the player’s
body is not only straight and relaxed, but the centre of gravity is just in the middleof the body. Moreover, teachers should note whether the head (or neck) and chestof students remain relaxed. Students should avoid unnecessary movements.

However, in any sport, or in the habitual actions of daily life, it is impossible
to complete a motion only by a specific locomotive organ of the body. In other220words, all movements occur due to the complementary coordination of the body’s
locomotive apparatus. It is the same thing with piano playing. Since the end of
the 19th century, it has been suggested that students better use the whole bodyand learn coordination. Therefore, rather than saying that the head, shoulders,and upper body do not participate in movement, it is better to say that keeping
them in a relaxed state assists hands in completing the performance task. In
addition, to ensure the stability of the centre of gravity, the left foot should bebent 90 degrees, the sole should fall on the ground, muscles should be relaxed,
and the waist should be supported. All these measures can ensure that the centreof gravity of the body falls on the vertical axis of the body.

In the past three centuries, most methods discussed finger position, which
they said should be bent or flat. Bach asserted that the strength of ten fingers
should be trained equally, while Chopin believed that it is not necessary to
deprive each finger of its unique personality. Their viewpoints affected ideas
about finger position during their time. However, there are still wise insightsfrom teachers like Clementi, Latour, Matthay, and others who believe that thefinger position should be adjusted according to the condition of each player. They
advocated bending the three longer fingers. For the small finger (the 5th finger),its tip should be kept in a straight line with other fingers’ fingertips; hence itshould be straightened. From my perspective, the finger position does not havean absolute correct position, but there is a prerequisite that must be confirmed,
which is the third joint (MCP joint) of the hand needs to be bent. This means the221hand must keep an arched shape, The value of the arched hand will be proved
scientifically below.

I want to talk about positions – firstly, the wrist and arm positions. It can beseen from the summaries of the past methods that they did not mention wrist
position until the 19th century, but Couperin is a unique case because hementioned a little bit about wrist position; this is rarely seen in that time. After
Couperin, most people generally thought the wrist should form a straight linewith hand and arm; also, several methods proposed that the wrist should be turned
outward a bit, and this is mentioned by the Caland-Deppe method (see Figure4.7). This method asserted that the fifth finger should be in line with the ulna as
much as possible. On a point of anatomy, a nerve we call the ulnar nerve extends
from the shoulder to the little finger, and it is one of the three primary nerves in
the human arm (Bertelli & Tavares, 2018) (Davis & Kane, 2020). The ulnar nerve
plays the role of controlling the movement of the little finger and a half of thering finger; meanwhile, it also controls most of the small muscles in our hand(see Figure 5.1)111.

111

Neurology Needs, Ulnar nerve. Retrieved fromhttps://www.neurologyneeds.com/neuroanatomy/peripheral-nerves/ulnar-nerve/ (Accessed on May
31st, 2021)

222

Figure 5.1
Ulnar Nerve

Source: Neurology Needs, Ulnar nerve. Retrieved fromhttps://www.neurologyneeds.com/neuroanatomy/peripheral-nerves/ulnar-nerve/(Accessed on May 31st, 2021)

In piano playing, if the player bends the elbows or plays with a sunken wrist joint,risk to creating pressure on the ulnar nerve because it can lead to ulnar nerve
entrapment 112. This is one of the widespread injuries among modern pianists.
However, turning the wrist outwards can lead the elbow outwards as well,
reducing ulnar nerve compression, and thereby maintaining flexible movement

112

Ulnar nerve entrapment occurs when the ulnar nerve is compressed. Compression occurring at

the elbow is called cubital tunnel syndrome, while that occurring at wrist is called ulnar tunnel
syndrome.

223

of the fingers and avoiding finger injuries. At the same time, this is also why it
is necessary to avoid keeping too close to the body during piano playing.

Although the development of musical instruments has had an impact on
playing posture, the principles of overall body support remain unchanged. Since
the birth of the first piano in 1709, piano playing posture has been gradually paid
more and more attention. The emphasis has shifted from fingers to the wholebody. Piano playing is more and more regarded as a whole-body movement.
However, contemporary piano methods are not like Bach think that playing withten fingers only, but Bach laid the foundation for finger use, not like Czerny,
only working on the flexible fingers, but he has contributed to valuable piano
practice methods. Additionally, high fingers are no longer emphasised as acentral technique but are considered is an occasional tool for bringing out some
timbre’s expressions. Accordingly, from these methods and schools, we haveused scientific assessment to realise the essence of piano performance morethoroughly today. For example, Breithaupt’s weight-touch is based on gravity;
Ortmann’s understanding of the lever principle in body structure helps the player
understand the mechanical movement and improve movement efficiency;
Matthay, Newman, and other modern researchers have mapped the entire body’s
usage of locomotive organs, and they injected new vitality and expressive power
into the development of the playing posture.

224

The effectiveness of well-known postures used in modern piano teaching,such as sitting upright and using arched hands has been proved in this research.
Many external forces act on the players in piano playing. I did the mechanicalanalysis is shown in Figure 5.2, and I have calculated the relationship between
these external forces and piano sounds. From the results, we can find a naturaland scientific playing posture.

Figure 5.2
Mechanical analysis when playing the piano*Made by the author

H: instantaneous height of the centre of gravity
H0 : initial height of the centre of gravity
H1 : height variable of the centre of gravity
𝑣: instantaneous velocity of displacement of the centre of gravity

225

𝑣! : initial velocity of displacement of the centre of gravity𝑣" : velocity variable of displacement of the centre of gravity
𝑡: time𝐹: the sum of external forces on the body
𝑀: mass of the player
𝑁: the sum of normal forces on the body𝑁" : the normal force of the ground on feet𝑁# : the normal force of bench on hip
𝑁$ : the normal force of piano on hand
𝑁% : the slop direction normal force of bench on the body
𝐺: gravity
𝑓: friction
𝐻 = 𝐻! + 𝐻"
= 𝐻! + 2 𝑣𝑑𝑡= 𝐻! + 2(𝑣! + 𝑣" )𝑑𝑡= 𝐻! + 2 𝑣! 𝑑𝑡 + 2 𝑣" 𝑑𝑡= 𝐻! + 2 𝑣! 𝑑𝑡 + 6

𝐹
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑀

= 𝐻! + 2 𝑣! 𝑑𝑡 + 6

𝑁−𝐺
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑀

= 𝐻! + 2 𝑣! 𝑑𝑡 + 6

𝑁" + 𝑁# + 𝑁$ − 𝐺
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑀
226

As seen from the figure above, we can find that when N = G, the player isbalanced vertically. According to the analysis above, the relationship between
the height of the centre of gravity and the external forces can be seen, which isthe displacement of the centre of gravity related to all the external forces that act
on the players. These external forces and the displacement of the player’s centreof gravity corporately and indirectly complete the movements of piano playing,
which is to say, the sounds produced by the piano player are an extension andanother form of expression of those external forces in space. In other words, theinfluence of external force on piano playing posture has been proved. Therefore,
posture as the carrier extends and expresses the piano sounds to the space. Next,
the mechanical analysis is used again to deduce the specific relationship between
sitting posture and piano playing.

Figure 5.3
Mechanical analysis of sitting upright227

*Made by the author

𝑁" : the normal force of the ground on feet𝑁# : the normal force of bench on hip
𝐺: gravity (𝐺 = 𝑚𝑔)
𝑚: mass of the player
𝑔: gravitational acceleration
Anatomically, when the human body sits upright, its spine forms an S-shape(see Figure 5.3); this shape helps cushion the mechanical pressure, which also
plays a role in protecting the brain. In playing the piano, the arm moves with theshoulder joint as the centre. The force transmission path is the shoulder – spine– hip – leg – foot – ground, and another path is the shoulder – arm – hand. In thiscase, the player should sit erectly. Thereupon the following equations are
satisfied:

𝐺 = 𝑁" + 𝑁#
𝑚𝑔 = 𝑁" + 𝑁#
𝑊& = 𝑚𝑔ℎ
𝑊 = (𝑁" + 𝑁# )𝑠ℎ: displacement of the centre of gravity

𝑠: displacement of 𝑁" and 𝑁#

𝑊& : work done by gravity

𝑊: work done by 𝑁" and 𝑁#

When the player raises the arm, the body’s centre of gravity will shift upwards,
the work done by gravity (𝑊& ), and the direction of displacement is opposite to228

gravity; hence, gravity does negative work. On the other hand, gravity does
positive work when the arm falls back to its original position. Therefore, if thetwo movements above are regarded as one whole movement, the gravity does notwork, which means it achieves economical playing. Consequently, theeffectiveness of the weight-touch method has been proved, which demonstrates
that in piano playing, the arm movement needs to depend on gravity; if the arm
uses too many extra external forces, the player will feel fatigued quickly because
they have to do too much work.

The mechanical analysis and results above are based on the condition that theplayer is sitting upright. However, when the player is sitting with a problematic
posture, such as a “hunchback,” the sounds get worse and lead to low-efficiency
playing. There are two reasons: when hunching the body, the spine and shoulders
deviate from the original mechanical balance axis (the gravity axis), and the spine
becomes weak to cushion against external forces. Thus, other internal forces areneeded to offset those external forces. Another reason is that when raising thearm, not only the arm does work, but the shoulder also does work. Therefore, theforces cannot be directly transmitted from the shoulder to the various locomotive
apparatuses along the transmission path mentioned above. In other words, partof the force is lost on the transmission path. Consequently, maintaining a straightsitting posture is extremely important for efficient piano practice because it will
significantly save energy and achieve economical performance.

229

Furthermore, the arched hand (or hand bridge) is a significant element of
posture in piano playing. Before discussing hand bridges, it is necessary tomention arched bridges at first because the mechanism of a hand bridge is similar
to that of an arch bridge, especially the three-hinged arch bridge, which has threehinges A, B, and C in the arch.

Figure 5.4
Three-hinged arches, the reaction of supports

Source: Karnovsky, Ignor A. (2012) Theory of Arched Structures: Strength, Stability,
Vibration. Berlin: Springer. p. 58.

230

Figure 5.5
Reactions of supports and internal forces

Source: Karnovsky, Ignor A. (2012) Theory of Arched Structures: Strength, Stability,
Vibration. Berlin: Springer. p. 59.

In Figure 5.4, 𝐻' = 𝐻( = 𝐻 is horizontal thrust, 𝑅' and 𝑅( is vertical
reactions (left and right) to carry the vertical load, 𝑓 is arch height, 𝐶 is the hingeof the arch, 𝑀 is bending moment, 𝑘 is a point on the arch, 𝜑) is the angle
between the tangent and horizontal.

According to the calculations, we can use the following equation to explain
the interactions between horizontal thrust and arch height

231

𝐻=

𝑀*!
𝑓

(1)113The equation reveals that thrust 𝐻 is in inverse proportion to arch height 𝑓.

In Figure 5.5, 𝑁) is axial force, 𝑄) is shear force, 𝑃 are forces that arelocated at the arch. In order to understand the relationship between 𝜑) , 𝑁) , 𝑄)
and 𝐻, the following equations have been defined𝑄) = 𝑄)! cos 𝜑) − 𝐻 sin 𝜑)𝑄)! = 𝑅' − G 𝑃(2)114+,-.

Figure 5.6
Mechanical analysis of hand bridge*Made by the author

113

Ibid. p. 59.

114

Ibid. p. 60.

232

The three-hinged arch bridge is similar to the hand bridge. I made the analysis
shown as Figure 5.6. A, B, and C of the three-hinged arch bridge in the handbridge are the fingertips, wrists, and MCP joints. Therefore, the equations
defined above can also analyse the hand bridge. Equation (1) illustrates that when
the MCP joint is too low, it will cause the horizontal thrust 𝐻 increase, whichcauses the fingertips to touch the keys with more difficulty. Therefore, the heightof the MCP joints should be adjusted according to the fingertips to ensure theplayer can touch the keys by using fingertips. Concerning shear force and axial
force, according to equation (2), when playing the piano, if the tangent coincides
with 𝑁) , the frame of the hand will remain stable; however, if the tangent deviatesfrom the original 𝑁) direction and moves closer to the vertical axis, the angle 𝜑gets larger, but now it should keep touching the keys using fingertips; thus, thehorizontal thrust remains unchanged. Hence, the shear force 𝑄) becomes weaker,
which will quickly cause the DIP joint to arch out of the palm, and the result is
touching the keys by nails. Conversely, if the tangent is close to the horizontal
axis, the angle 𝜑 gets small, and it causes the shear force 𝑄) to becomes stronger,
which will cause the DIP joint to fold inwards toward the palm, which is calledfolding fingers in piano playing.

However, Matthay and Mikimoto suggested how to avoid folding DIP joints.
Matthay (1932) advised that students should not raise their fingers too high andshould drop fingers without too much energy from the hand and arm whenplaying the piano. Moreover, Matthay (1932) thought the finger should left the233key to a suitable height and drop the finger uncurved or less bent, let fingertips
fall vertically. On the other hand, Mikimoto thinks that the DIP joint and fingertip
should be fixed at first, and when fingers fall, the muscles of the hand (lumbricals
and interosseous) should be used (Mikimoto, 2010). The two methods share acommon point in that both use the fingers like they are gripping an object. As I
mentioned in Chapter II, there are no muscles in the fingers; the energy of thefingers comes from hand and arm muscles.

Finally, As Leschetizky said, if students only focus on hand and finger
practice,through them the fingers finally acquire exquisite sensibility, and the wrist
also soon learns to follow the movements of the fingers. The arm, to be sure,remains a clumsy fellow, always having to be guided lest he throw fingers
and wrist off the track by faulty movement. 115

In this part, the sitting posture, the position of arms, hands and fingers are
discussed. Sitting posture and hand position are analysed and calculatedscientifically to bring more reasonable suggestions to adolescent beginners sothey can avoid unacceptable habits and injuries. A natural, scientific posture isvital for highly efficient and economical playing. Based on the correct playing

115

Brée, Malwine. (1902) The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method. New York: G. Schirmer. p.

80.

234

posture, I will discuss how to coordinate body locomotive organs, which is also
a severe difficulty for adolescent beginners reflected in the research findings in
Chapter III.

5.2 Coordination and Relaxation

The questionnaire surveys in Chapter III found some problems related tousing the body among adolescent beginners. According to the results, bodybalance is a conspicuous problem, and adolescent beginners cannot use theirlocomotive apparatus in piano playing naturally and smoothly. These problems
contribute to the problems of body coordination and muscular synergy.

It is necessary to consider coordination and body posture as a whole because
a good posture is a prerequisite to highly efficient coordination. In our daily life,
every movement is completed by not only one locomotive organ, but by different
kinds of organs cooperating together. These organs are the musculoskeletal
system, including the skeleton, muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, and multiple
proximal and distal motor organs. The skeleton shapes posture, joints guide thedirection of movements, and muscles of different sizes and shapes provide energy
for movement. Tendons connect muscle to the skeleton, and their primaryfunction is to transmit force; ligaments create stability in joints and hold theinternal structures together.

235

In piano playing, the skeleton enables the player to form a good posture andcan be controlled to produce structures such as the hand bridge; joints guide
players to successfully complete various techniques, such as keystroke, tremolo,and octaves; muscles provide energy and endurance for piano playing; ligaments
connect each finger (see Figure 2.3) to build bridges and pathways, which canhelp transmit forces and provide a physiological basis for weight transfer;tendons provides tension to the fingers and stability for knuckles, and affectfinger flexibility and independence (As shown in Figure 5.7 that I drew).
Undoubtedly, piano playing requires not only fingers but also the participationof other locomotive apparatuses. Hence the performer must form an awarenessof interrelationships in their mind. Additionally, the control centre of thesecoordinated motions is the central nervous system, which means that inperformance, besides the participation of the motor organs, the nerve-level
activities such as auditory perception, haptic perception, and visual perception
are also involved.

236

Figure 5.7
Tendons of the left hand

*Made by the author

Generally speaking, coordination results from using both hands and brain
simultaneously, and the other parts of the whole body assist it. Nevertheless, we
still often hear about many cases of injury among piano players. Sakai (2002)
found six injuries that pianists are most vulnerable to: tenosynovitis or tendinitis,
enthesopathy, muscle pain, finger joint pain, neurological disturbance, and neckor scapular pain. There are diverse reasons that can lead to these injuries. For
example, playing with unrelaxed wrists, elevated shoulders, and longer practicetime bring a higher risk of musculoskeletal disorders, which all have an
unavoidable relationship with the coordination of body locomotive apparatus.
The relationship between wrist posture and motor coordination is essential. The
study found that the coordination function of the forearm muscles and wrist can

237stabilise the wrist joint, and the weight-touch can reduce the risk ofmusculoskeletal disorders (Allsop & Ackland, 2010). Furthermore, it showedthat under the coordination of the body itself, external forces can also be apositive factor to help players achieve performance more efficiently.

Weight-touch has been introduced in the previous chapter, and its upgradedversion is weight-transfer. In general, weight playing uses the weight of the hands
or arms to play, which is to use gravity to play. It is not a way to practise finger
independence, but to learn to relax them. Therefore, weight-touch exercises canhelp the arm relax, and it will also help students to become acquainted withcoordinated functions.

In China’s piano teaching, there is an exercise as follows: First, the teacher
raises one of the student’s arms. Then, after the teacher removes his hand, thestudent is asked to let their arm fall freely onto the keyboard with the 3rd finger
extended. At the moment the finger touches the key, the student will feel the arm
vibrate up and down, which is caused by inertia. At this time, it is proved thatthe arm is in a completely relaxed state, and all its weight is carried on the hands
and fingers. This exercise is called “arm drop” or “arms fall,” and it isrecommended to be taught in the first lesson. Similar approaches to this exercise
are also mentioned by Matthay, Breithaupt, Tetzel, Mikimoto, and Sándor.

238

Matthay (1932) noted the six functions of the arm. 1) Weight transfer andarm vibration. Weight transfer means to transfer force from the shoulder to thefingers or from fingers to fingers. The reaction force causes arm vibration fromthe keys through the fingers, hand, and wrist when the fingers are running fast;
this vibration counteracts the reaction. Matthay believes that all successful agility
passages must necessarily be played either as “arm vibration” or as “weighttransfer” touch. 116

2) Forearm rotation is a master key, which can solve almost all playing
techniques, such as trills, tremolos, arpeggios. I will explain it by using themusical figures shown below:

Example 5.1 M. Clementi’s Introduction to the Art of Playing the Pianoforte,
Op.42, Lecon XXVIII, mm. 1-5. Leipzig: C. F. Peters. Arranged from J. Haydn’s
Piano Trio in G major, Hob.XV:25, the 1st movement.

116

Matthay, Tobias. (1932) The Visible and Invisible in Pianoforte Technique. London: Oxford

University Press. p. 28.

239

Example 5.2 J. N. Hummel’s Piano Sonata No.5, Op. 81, the 1st movement, mm.
24-26. Braunschweig: Henry Litolff’s Verlag.

In the music examples above, “left” represents the arm rotation to the left, whichis the direction of the thumb inward; “right” represents the arm rotation to theright, which is the direction of the five fingers outward. Figuration such as
Alberti-bass or the broken thirds scales shown in these examples can use arm
rotation. However, Matthay noted that the rotation movement cannot be used for
rapid passages because there is no more time to complete the rotation; instead,players should use more finger motion to play each note but with a disguised andhidden rotation of the forearm (Matthay, 1932). In my perspective, the rotation
utilisation in a fast tempo should be related to the hand size. Big hands pianists
maybe only use fingers, but like me, the small hands, using rotation properly ina fast tempo could help wrists relax. Actually, it is a good way to play such as
Chopin’s Etude Op.25 No.11 by connecting rotation with fingers runningaccording to the methods that I received.

Summing up 1) and 2), the arm needs to be comparatively lighter so that thefingers can move freely and flexibly without pressure in a rapid passage. Also,in this way, the tone will be lighter and more transparent. Nevertheless, forearm

240

rotation is needed to help complete the whole process. Actually, you can see yourwrist is rotating slightly in this case. Therefore, arm vibration, weight transfer,and forearm rotation are coordinated with each other when playing the piano.

The other four functions are to be used selectively. 3) Forearm weight isavailable for dynamic change and playing chords; 4) The whole arm weight isused to play cantabile; 5) Forearm down-exertion with upper arm weight is used
to make loud and wild sounds; 6) Upper arm forward-drive actually is more of anegative effect because it can produce bad sounds; therefore, this is notrecommended for adolescent beginners (Matthay, 1932).

The prerequisite for using the arm techniques mentioned above is to playwith relaxation, and Matthay provided a related exercise that is an upgradedversion of Breithaupt’s. The exercise from Breithaupt (1909) to relax the arm is
to put the hand with a bridge shape upon the keyboard at first, then raise thewhole arm, then drop it down and stand on the key firmly by the third finger (seeFigure 5.8),

241Figure 5.8
Weight touch position

Source: Breithaupt, Rudolf Maria. (1909) Natural Piano Technique Vol. 2: School of
Weight-Touch-Natural Piano Technic. Leipzig: C. F. Kahnt Nachfolger. p. 11.

This time player should support the whole arms and hand by the MCP joint of
the third finger and loosen the arm until it is without tension from shoulder tohand. This method can help students feel the arm’s weight and the sense thesupport from the MCP joint of the finger. In order to make the students feel theweight better, Matthay improved Breithaupt’s exercise. Matthay believed thatwhen the arm is falling, the upper arm muscles need to control its falling speed
so that the desired sounds can be obtained (Matthay, 1932). However, Matthay’s
upgraded version is difficult for beginners. Therefore, before using Breithaupt’s
exercise, it is better to learn to drop the arm with a controlled speed.

There are also some exercises for arm relaxation and coordination in modern
piano pedagogies that adolescent beginners can refer to. Among them, theJapanese Mikimoto method and the Hungarian pianist Sándor’s method are
relatively representative. Mikimoto (2010) suggests late beginners should do the242following exercise: place your forearms on a desk and avoid using the muscles
between your elbows and shoulders – the biceps – as much as possible; then raise
your forearms as fast as possible to a height of 3-4 cm from the desk, and finallydrop them and relax completely (see Figure 5.9). The exercise above can be
repeatedly practised according to the different rhythm.

Figure 5.9
Mikimoto method for relaxing arms

Source: 御木本澄子（2010）『正しいピアノ奏法』（第 16 刷発行）音楽之友社.
P. 35.

This exercise can be taught to adolescent beginners before touching the piano sothat the students can directly feel how upper arm relaxation works, and it is also
useful to relax wrists. Furthermore, it lays a foundation for the subsequent
lessons on the principle of leverage. This exercise can also help to practise forte
in later piano learning. Sándor pointed out gravity as a source of energy for piano
performance and emphasized the importance of the Breithaupt’s arm-drop.
Moreover, Sándor summarized the arm-drop technique of Matthay and243

Breithaupt, and he added a rebound step to the last motion, making the fullsequence as follows: raise – lower – rebound (Sándor, 1982). The final step,
rebound, includes two actions. One is to fix your hands on the keys with fingers,which as Breithaupt said, involves keeping the wrists slightly depressed. The
other is to return upward, and the upper arm needs to be prepared in advance.

These are all recommended methods for adolescent beginners to relax theirarms. Relaxing arms is the second step in learning the piano and has been
regarded as a critical point in many teaching methods in the past three centuries.
The first step is to learn posture. Therefore, beginners should learn to relax arms
before finger training, which will help coordinate the movements of various
motor organs, to minimise the probability of injury, and ultimately achieve thepurpose of learning and practising the piano efficiently.

After learning to relax the arm, the weight-touch and weight-transfer can be
introduced into the teaching plan. I will not write too much detail about weighttouch because instructors and students can refer to Breithaupt’s work – Natural
Piano Technique Vol. 2: School of Weight-Touch-Natural Piano Technic. As forweight transfer, which is considered an essential technique in piano playing, it is
an important technique in the Russian piano teaching system, and in Germany
also. However, there is no obstacle to understanding the technique in a theoreticalway. In contrast, in actual playing, it is not recommended to guide adolescent
beginners in this method because students still cannot coordinate the body well,244and their sense of weight is still deficient. Therefore, when students do the armrelaxing exercise, the wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints all play a critical role,and it is imperative to understand the features of these points. Furthermore, atthe beginning of the piano lesson, introducing the principle of leverage within
the body is also an essential part of understanding the body’s coordination.

Kalkbrenner formally treats the body as a lever system in piano playing forthe first time in the history of piano pedagogy (Kalkbrenner, 1830). However,the first time the mechanism of leverage was practically applied in piano
performance was Ortmann, who created the biomechanics of piano technique.
Ortmann’s book which we mentioned in the last chapter, The Physiological
Mechanics of Piano Technique, reveals seven mechanical principles: rigidity,
plasticity, elasticity, compressibility, expansibility, gravity, and inertia.
(Ortmann, 1929) These basic mechanical principles affect motions in our daily
lives and play an essential internal and external role in piano performance, which
Matthay noted in his book, Visible and Invisable in Pianoforte technique.

The following is a discussion and analysis of the arm lever. As shown in
Figure 5.10, I made a mechanical analysis. The four points A, B, C, D are the
MCP joints, wrist, elbow, and shoulder, and they are the fulcrums of the finger,
hand, forearm, and upper arm respectively. From this point of view, there are
four small levers. These levers are powered by the muscles that wrap around themand are moved by their tendons. The human arm is classified as the third class of245

lever. Although the effort is always more significant than the load, the load can
get a broader range. During piano playing, what the players need to know is that
there are four parts as the base for those four fulcrums of A, B, C, and D. Thebase of the MCP joint is the hand, the base of the wrist is the forearm, the baseof the elbow is the upper arm, and the base of the shoulder is the upper body.
Recognising the relationship between these four parts will help adolescent
beginners understand the principles of movement and the power source of eachpart better. Therefore, I made a mechanical analysis of the lever principle of thearm with the elbow as the fulcrum when playing the piano below.

Figure 5.10
Arm lever with the elbow as the fulcrum*Made by the author

As shown in the figure above, 𝑊" represents the muscle tension of the biceps,
𝑊# represents the load on the forearm, 𝑎 is the distance from the connection point246

of the tendon and radius to the elbow joint, 𝑏 is the distance from the centre of
the load to the elbow joint, 𝜃 is the angle between the direction of muscle tension
and the horizontal direction, 𝛽 is the angle of the arm of force and horizontal
direction. If the lever is balanced,(𝑊" sin 𝜃 − 𝑊# ) × 𝑎 cos 𝛽 = 𝑊# × (𝑏 − 𝑎) cos 𝛽𝑊" sin 𝜃 × 𝑎 cos 𝛽 = 𝑊# × 𝑏 cos 𝛽when the upper arm is in a vertical position to the forearm, 𝜃 = 90°, 𝛽 = 0°,
therefore,𝑎𝑊" = 𝑏𝑊#

In the formula, 𝑊" sin 𝜃 − 𝑊# represents the elbow joint reaction force. If 𝑎𝑊" >𝑏𝑊# , the forearm flexes at the elbow joint; if 𝑎𝑊" < 𝑏𝑊# , the forearm extends atthe elbow joint. On the other hand, in piano performance, it is impossible to keep
the upper arm and forearm vertical all the time because the leverage is affectedby the two angles 𝜃 and 𝛽. For an adolescent beginner, these four levers – finger,
hand, forearm, and upper arm – should be used corporately. It should not belimited to one of the levers; their coordination is necessary. With the coordinationof these levers, the muscles and tendons around them can also coordinate toachieve more efficient movement.

247

In addition, to ensure the independence of the keystrokes of the fingers,
players should move within the range allowed by lever activities, and the otherthree levers should follow the lead of the fingers. That is to say after learning
how to relax the arm, the purpose of finger training is to make the arm match thefinger movement better. As Leschetizky realised,Through them the fingers finally acquire exquisite sensibility, and the wrist
also soon learns to follow the movements of the fingers. The arm, to be sure,remains a clumsy fellow, always having to be guided lest he throw fingers
and wrist off the track by faulty movements. 117

An exercise which I am using when I teach students, which for the fingers to
guide the arm can be trained through the following steps: First, the instructor
suggests the student stand at the lowest register of the keyboard and face toward
the high register keyboard, and then use the second and third fingers of the left
hand to start from the lowest note, like a human walking. Using the second finger
as the right foot, and the third finger as the left foot, walk to the highest tone.
During this process, the instructor should remind students to keep their arms
relaxed, and actually, the MCP joints seem like the human body’s waist. Next, inthe same way, use the second and third fingers of the right hand to go from thehighest tone to the lowest tone. Then, you can practise with the third and fourth

117

Brée, Malwine. (1902) The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method. New York: G. Schirmer. p.

80.

248

fingers, and the fourth and fifth fingers in turn. However, since using the fourthand fifth fingers is more difficult, it is recommended for students to practise them
“step by step, walking firmly on the ground”. Through the exercises, adolescent
beginners can quickly understand how the fingers lead the three levers behind
them, and it can help beginners to feel arm relaxation well.

There is a modern method which is also centrally concerned with theprinciple of leverage, Whiteside’s method, Indispensable of Piano Playing. It isbased on Ortmann’s method, but Whiteside viewed the whole body’s levers.
Besides the four levers mentioned by Ortmann, Whiteside added the fifth lever,the body, and its fulcrum is the hip (Whiteside, 1961). Therefore, we can findthat Whiteside treated the whole body as a mechanical lever; she regards the bodyas the main lever and the arms as the force-arm of the lever. Thus, horizontal,
vertical, and internal and external displacements can greatly enhance thecoordinated function of the body’s motion organs. Furthermore, the fulcrums of
the five levers – the finger, hand, forearm, upper arm, and upper body – are theknuckle, wrist, elbow, shoulders, and hips respectively (Whiteside, 1961).
Adolescent beginners need to connect movements in daily life with piano
performance to fully understand these five levers, and their movement principles
and functions.

A specific course at Tokyo University of the Arts called Konnyaku
Gymnastics can help relax the whole body, and it is being utilised to directly249

understand the body lever principle. Here is a brief introduction to this method:First, place your feet shoulder-width apart and stand up straight, two arms
hanging naturally by your two sides; then gradually bend forward with your waist(the fulcrum of the body lever) while keeping other body parts naturally relaxed;take the shoulder joint as the fulcrum, keep the body relaxed, and raise the upperarms to the horizontal position to form a line with upper limbs. You should only
move the shoulder joints and keep forearm and hand relaxed. Next, take the two
elbow joints as the fulcrum, keeping the body relaxed, and raise the forearm to
the horizontal position and keep a line with upper arm. Also, you should keep
hand and fingers relaxed. In the same way, take the wrists as the fulcrum, raise
your palm – not fingers – keeping fingers lowered and relaxed. At last, take the
MCP joints as the fulcrum and raise fingers to the line with arm and hand,
keeping the body relaxed. When you finish the actions above, do the opposite
actions in reverse order dropping down the fingers, palm, forearm, and upper arm
in turn. During this process, you should not apply internal force from the body,instead only relying on gravity. Hence due to the gravity and inertia force, larger
locomotive apparatuses such as the arms will swing acutely.

When practising Konnyaku Gymnastics, students should know the levers
because it can help the student feel how the fulcrum of each lever of the upper
body works. Therefore, the exercise is important for adolescent beginners toexperience body movement after obtaining a theoretical understanding of the
body levers. From the physiological perspective, these gymnastics can help250

adolescent beginners feel the movement of each part of the upper limbs and therelaxed state of muscles. Furthermore, this exercise can help adolescent
beginners feel the gravity and inertial force from the physical-mechanicalperspective and provide a practical basis for learning weight-touch and weighttransfer in the following steps. Thereupon we can see the usefulness of Konnyaku
Gymnastics, which is maybe why Tokyo University of the Arts offers it as acourse.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, there
was another theory about body coordination: muscular synergy proposed by
Deppe, mentioned in Chapter IV. Muscle synergy, simply put, is the coordination
between muscles. From a physiological perspective, it is through specific nerve
stimulation, thus mobilizing the coordinated movements of muscle groups(Binder, Hirokawa, & Windhorst, 2009). Most of these muscle groups arecomposed of many small muscles. Muscle synergy is considered a simplified
version of the body’s movements output and input (Sabzevari, Jafari, & Boostani,2017) to mobilise more muscles by the central nervous system with fewer
commands (He & Mathieu, 2019).

There is a significant effect of physical coordination on piano performance,
the sense of balance (equilibrioception) decreases with age (Rose & Jones, 1998).
Also, it is a severe problem for adolescent beginners, which was alreadydiscussed in Chapter III. Therefore, I suggest that after adolescent beginners

251learn posture, the relaxation of the arm and the coordination of locomotive organs
should be taken as the next step. Additionally, the physical basis such as leverprinciple and physiological evidence such as muscle synergy should also be
conveyed to the students to help them understand its principle and mechanism.
Moreover, besides the exercises introduced above, students can also relax theirarms and practise body coordination in daily life. For example, active video
games can improve balance in both developing children and adolescents and can
improve the motor skills of non-typically developing children (Page, Barrington,
Edwards, & Barnett, 2017). Once example is the game Nintendo Ring Fit
Adventure, which has swept all over the world in recent years. Consequently,
whether it is systematic or daily practice by other measures, piano learners should
permanently attach importance to physical coordination and arm relaxation.

5.3 On Music

Music and language are not only similar in expression, but more importantly,
music is similar to the inner beauty of language, such as artificial sounds,
extending language from whole, which makes sound meaningful and coherent.
(Adorno & Gillespie, 1993) However, I think music language has a very similarplace in the language system. Like music theory, include harmony and texture
are a kind of music writing system. The writing system, as the basis of language,
there are three necessities: 1) language’s limitations in time and space; 2) it isnecessary for the development of human cognition; 3) it is necessary for cultural

252

inheritance. Due to writing system, the history of human civilization can bepassed on, and technology and literature can continuously accrue development
and progress. It is the same as the music writing system, there are three reasons:1) the score breaks through the limitations of time and space; 2) the developmentof music theory reflects the progress of human cognition; 3) the evolution ofmusic history is a part of human cultural heritage. Therefore, the writing system
of music is very important for starting to learn music. Usually, as adolescents oradults, understanding its wring system is the primary task if they want to learn a
new language. Similarly, music as a language, the first step to learning musicshould be from how to read music.

For adolescent beginners, after they obtain the correct scientific playing
posture and body coordination skills, it is important to learn how to read music
language. That is because adolescent beginners’ comprehension and cognitive
ability are higher than children, and they can take initiative in thinking. Score
reading is considered a problem that should be prior solved among adolescent
beginners by instructors, according to Chapter III. Therefore, instructors should
guide students to study music at first, which can improve their ability of reading
and understanding music. After they can read the music rapidly, the thing left isjust to use the playing organs to express music. Bertini believes that the teachingsystem in the initial stage should focus on how to use fingers and other motororgans to play the piano, but this is wrong (Bertini, 1848). In Europe, manymusicians can play not only one musical instrument but also others as well. One
253

of the reasons is that they can read music quickly and accurately, and musicalinstruments are only a means for them to express music. As one of the students
who started learning piano in adolescence, I found that when I did not understandthe music score yet, no matter how I practised with my fingers, I could notovercome the difficulties. However, after analysis and reading the score deeply
under the guidance of my supervisor, I found I could solve the difficult parts. It
is the result of reading music earnestly. Furthermore, from the investigation in
Chapter III, we know that the adolescent beginners’ pleasure in piano practice isin direct proportion to the piano practice time. Therefore, it further proves theimportance of adolescent beginners learning music theory, because when theylearn to understand the music, they can gain more pleasure in practising the piano
and thus spend more time practising.

Regarding how to read music, there is a vocabulary and grammar in music
language as well. The note is analogous to one of the 26 letters of the alphabet,
and the vocabulary is made of the notes combined with various kinds of rhythms
and note values; grammars is found in musical phrases and chord progressions;the conjunctions between these phrases are represented by harmony. Therefore,
the precondition to know how to read music is to learn music theory, and this has
been accepted by plenty of pedagogies and methods in the past three centuries.

Before starting finger exercises, instructors need to give three or four lessons
on teaching adolescent beginners the basics of music theory. The first thing that254

should be taught is music notes, pitches, and scales; these are the foundation forreading music. After students know the music notes well, it will speed up thesubsequent learning (Richardson, 1859). Because the music note is a kind ofletter symbol, score reading speed can be improved when you can recognise its
meaning through unconditioned response. Moreover, if the student canfamiliarise the shape of notes groups, such as scale and arpeggio shapes, it willbe the basis for rapid score reading.

Then, three core elements of music should be taught: rhythm, melody, andharmony. Among them, rhythm should be stressed for adolescent beginners
because many technique problems come from rhythm. Although many students
have been learning piano for many years, they still have problems in score
reading and cannot get rid of the metronome, even mistakenly thinking that themetronome is the saviour in practice (Bertini, 1848). One of the reasons is thatthose students still cannot understand rhythm thoroughly, and their bodies andbrains lack a sense of rhythm. Therefore, regarding rhythm, adolescent beginners
should be clear about the following three aspects: 1) Students need to learnrhythm correctly. For example, the rhythm of the triple metre is often used indance music, such as Bach’s French Suite, English Suite, and Chopin’s Waltzes.
However, in terms of dance, their beats are not one, two, three, but one, two,
three and two, two, three, a double metre actually. 2) According to the types ofrhythm, practise with your body. Because rhythm is based on feeling, sentiment,
and emotion, all derive from our inner sense of the body. When we are speaking,255we separate the sentences into different phrases according to their meaning withthe breath, and this requires our organs such as mouth, nose, trachea, and lungco-ordinately working together. Moreover, piano playing requires players upper
limbs and respiratory system to co-ordinately sense rhythm. This can help theplayer’s body not be stiff but soft and flexible. In general, the body’s internal
environment and locomotive organs need to cooperate in perceiving rhythm. One
more thing that needs to be emphasised is that rhythm is perceived with the bodyrather than count the rhythm by the physical motions of the body. As Abby
Whiteside said, feel the over-all rhythm of music in his body and find anemotional outlet in playing it from this center. 118 3) The method to practise
rhythm from Joan Last can be used for adolescent beginners because it seems
like a mathematical game, arousing students’ interest (Last, 1972).

When teaching this basic music theory, it can also be carried out with related
finger exercises, but a prerequisite is that the student should be required torecognise music notes, staff, and pitch well. When leading students to study thestaff, a scale diagram often appears at the beginning of the teaching materials.
After students can rapidly identify the note names of the bass clef and the trebleclef, the scale practice can be guided. Latour, Herz, Spencer, Bertini, and other19th century pianists and teachers all thought it is better to study basic music

118

Abby Whiteside (1969) Mastering the Chopin Etudes and Other Essays. New York: C. Scribner’sSons. p. 161.

256

theory and practise fingers simultaneously, and they wrote short etudes
illustrating various topics in music theory and marked the fingerings. Afterlearning the treble clef notes, students can study how to play scales on the treble
clef staff and indicate the fingering under the instructor’s guidance; meanwhile,eyes should be on the notes instead of on the keys or fingers (Richardson, 1859).
The nervous stimulation path, note – eye – brain – hand, significantly shortens
the brain’s reaction time. Hence, it can improve students’ speed in score reading,and their sense of keyboard space can also be cultivated gradually.

In past methods, it was emphasised that the study of music theory should be
introduced first, especially in the methods of the 19th century. Almost all themethods introduced the basic knowledge of music theory at the beginning. In the20th century, lots of method books had accepted the importance of music theory.
However, today, to help adolescent beginners achieve their goals as fast as
possible, teachers seem to ignore or delay the study of music theory. In fact, thiscannot improve their learning efficiency, but can cause many problems for thosestudents. Because of their independent thinking ability, they easily get deeper
and deeper into these problem swamps, resulting in wasting time and without
solutions. Therefore, studying music theory at the beginning of piano learning
can bring an anti-epidemic needle to students and lay a foundation for good sightreading and score memorisation. When students get the resource of music theory,
it will stimulate their score reading because the ability to recognise the musicalphrases, harmony, and note types has been significantly developed. However,257

reading scores only by using the eyes and brain are not enough. The role of theear also can not be underestimated. Thereupon, solfeggio study and practice has
been given a special priority in one of the methods of score reading.

Solfeggio is of great help in reading and even memorising music scores, andI had the actual experiences to perceive this point. Before entering music school,
I had never received systematic solfeggio training; after entering the music
school, I realized that I could not be sensitive to the timbre and tone quality I
produced. As a result, many techniques could not be conquered for a while, andthe more painful thing is that due to the lack of proficiency with music theory, I
encountered many problems in reading music. And yet, after a period of study,
although I became more proficient in applying music theory, the correctness andcomprehensiveness of reading music had not greatly improved. Hence, I found
the reason that is the lack of solfeggio training. As Combe 119 said,

The most helpful skill for help with true sight reading is sight singing, orsolfege. Learning absolute pitch is one of the best ways to develop sight
singing.120

119

Mademoiselle Yvonne Combe was a disciple of Debussy. She taught the two daughters of theauthor who wrote the book Fundamentals of Piano Practice. Combe founded Plainfield French
School of Music in 1927, which cultivated lots of musicians.
120

Chang, Chuan C. (2016) Fundamentals of Piano Practice. Florida: CreateSpace Independent

Publishing Platform. p. 136.

258

Through solfeggio training, students can become more sensitive to the harmony
in cadences, modulations, and other places. Furthermore, these places usuallyfollow rules in music theory. Hence the fingers can complete it naturally, evenreflexively. Nevertheless, Furuya (2012) compared with the students who hadreceived music training before the age of seven, the late beginners who start
music training after age nine have significantly fewer auditory nerve cells and it
is difficult to improve their pitch accuracy and rhythmic sense in a short time.
Additionally, even late beginners can develop good ears, but this ability willdiminish over time; hence, it is necessary to stimulate the auditory nerve often.
(p. 18; pp. 70-73) Therefore, to teach solfeggio to adolescent beginners, solfeggio
teachers need to make a better strategy to adapt to the physiological conditionsof those students. Finally, after completing the study of music theory and thetraining of basic solfeggio, the efficiency of music score reading will be
improved.

The knowledge of music theory and the training of solfeggio facilitate rapidscore reading. The difficulties in score reading have been discussed more or lessin the above, but for adolescent beginners, the main problem is they cannot
identify the score information rapidly, including the chord progression, phrases,
and music texture. It shows the necessity of music theory studying. If the visual
field is too narrow to read more contents of the music score, it can lead to
discontinuity in the information that the brain obtains; additionally, the sense ofrhythm can be disrupted. Finger skills also affect reading speed. These problems259

exist side by side and bring the difficulties to adolescent beginners in score
reading. Many instructors have unique views in dealing with these problems, andperhaps they have planned a series of solutions to score reading. However, there
is no clear, scientific, and effective method for adolescent beginners. Therefore,
having studied the methods and pedagogies of the past three centuries andcombined them with the achievements of modern scientific research, I will givethe following suggestions for score reading practice.

First, a large volume of reading training is indispensable. Students canpractise with basic level works first. They should practise reading a piece frombeginning to end without stopping, even if wrong notes or chords occur. After
practising the same piece several times in this way, students can change to a newpiece for practise; also, they should have a rhythm conception in mind during
practice (Plaidy, 1852). In addition, it is suggested that the teacher plays together
with the student in a higher octave above the student’s register (Deutsch, 1950).
This method can motivate the students and encourage them to continue moving
their visual field on the score. Moreover, after much practice, the ability to readscores will be improved. At this time, students should begin learning to analyse
harmony.

Secondly, Furuya shows six factors contribute to an advanced ability to readscores: 1) A lot of score reading practice has been done up to the age of 15; 2)Both hands can be used equally; 3) Information contained in the score can be

260

processed quickly; 4) The pitch and tone can be imagined correctly; 5) There isa strong working memory, the shapes of note groups and chords can beremembered, and there is a good sense of rhythm; 6) A proper fingering can bedecided quickly. (Furuya, 2012) These six factors can serve as six keys to score
reading. Fundamentally speaking, they are based on music theory and solfeggio
training and require finger skill. During teaching, we often use this metaphor:Ten fingers are a symphony orchestra, and the brain is the conductor. The musicscore is seen by the conductor’s eyes prior to the part being played by theorchestra, and this is also the same principle in score reading. Consequently, themost radical thing is that the eyes must see the notes, rhythm, harmony, andshapes.

Finally, when the ability to read scores is improved, the students can also
gain six other benefits: 1) enjoy music; 2) cultivate patience; 3) improve theenthusiasm for practising the piano; 4) cultivate the ability of self-study; 5)consolidate knowledge of music theory; 6) be fond of music much more
(Newman, 1956). Some problems reflected in the questionnaire survey ofChapter III, such as lack of habit of autonomous learning, short practice time,and so forth can be solved by score reading practice.

According to the four dimensions of music theory, rhythm, solfeggio andscore reading, this part expounds on adolescent beginners’ problems anddifficulties in piano learning. Most of these problems need to be solved at the261

beginning of piano learning, except the score reading, which needs to be
gradually solved based on improving playing skills and will take more time thanothers. Then, musical comprehension can be developed using different methods
mentioned above and through long-time practice, which will help reading speed
improve. Thereupon, after the study of posture, the practice of arm relaxation
and body coordination, and the fundamental study in music, finally, the fingers
can start systematic training on the keys.

5.4 On Techniques

What are the differences between technique and mechanics? For adolescent
beginners, this question needs to be clarified before beginning systematic finger
training. Mechanics is a kind of physics that explains how forces work on objects
and physical motions, while techniques are a practical experience, method, andability to deal with specific fields such as science. Put another way, technique isplaying the piano by using fingers and the brain. For instance, when practising
Hanon’s finger exercise, The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises, many students
blindly practice finger keystroke, and they think it can improve finger energy andflexibility. Indeed, it can achieve their purposes to a certain extent, but it is not
helpful for timbre and musicality after a long time of practice. However, if
students pay attention to the following points, it will make the practice more
efficient and exciting: focus on the acoustics, music and resonance.

262

About the questionnaire survey results in Chapter III, there are somedifficulties confusing adolescent beginners, and the most significant problems inneed of a solution are the following three: scales, arpeggios, and using the 3rd,
4th, and 5th finger. Here I will compare the differences between adolescent
beginners and children to give scientific and effective practice suggestions andhelp teachers guide adolescent beginners with a better strategy. Moreover, thethree problems are the basis of finger practice for both late and early beginners.
Furthermore, flexibly using the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers are vital for cultivating
finger function, balance and obtaining the skill to execute complex performanceskills. The other techniques include several difficulties commonly felt among
adolescent beginners – tone colour, dynamic control, and fast finger movement– which will be discussed in combination with the physiological characteristicsof the adolescent students and the physical properties of the sound. Then I will
provide a set of modern reference bases for instructors and adolescent students.

5.4.1 Scales
Scales and arpeggios are a chasm that must be surmounted in piano learning,
Bagatelle music as short as one to three pages, and sonatas and concertos as large
as tens or hundreds of pages all contain short or long scales and arpeggios.
Perhaps, to put it another way, the basic structure of musical phrases is composedof these long and short, intermittent scales and arpeggios. In terms of playing
techniques, the scale and arpeggio are the primary means to inspect the263

coordination of playing apparatuses because their practice requires not only thefingers, but also the assistance of wrists, arms, and shoulders. Moreover, the bodyalso needs to move left and right with the hip as the fulcrum in a horizontal
movement. It is a whole set of physical exercises. Therefore, adolescent
beginners must practise scales and arpeggios only after acquiring the natural
postures, coordination, and relaxation skills.

With the development of the piano since the 18th century, the keyboard’s
register has become wider, and the musical expression has become richer andmore colourful; thus, the scale and arpeggio are more and more applied in pianomusic. Therefore, more and more methods mentioned ways to practise scales andarpeggios. I will choose the methods from the past three centuries thatadolescents can use and talk about scales first, and arpeggios will be discussed
in the next section.

From the development of pedagogical approaches to scales over the past
three centuries we can see that methods have shifted from an emphasis on music
theory to human-oriented natural movement. At the beginning of the 19th century,classical music reached its peak, and it included countless scale segments inmusic. In order to play these scales well, a variety of practice methods andpedagogies were born, but all of them were based on music theory. They usuallytaught students something along these lines: Before putting hands upon the keys,
the students need to write the scales of each major and minor on the draft paper264with the names of notes (C-D-E-F-G-A-B), and then write down thecorresponding sharp and flat marks next to the notes that need to change(Hummel, 1828). On the one hand, this method can help students become familiar
with the signatures and lead them to theoretically, deeply understand andmemorise the relationship, function, and rules of twenty-four major and minor
scales. Additionally, it can help students train a pair of “correct ears”. However,
although this method is complicated and tedious for early beginners whose
understanding and cognitive ability is not mature, it is perhaps available for late
beginners.

Furthermore, when students start to learn scales, instructors should start with
C major and A minor as a model to render the pupil familiar with, and certain as
to the succession in the 24 diatonic scales, 121 which suggests that practisingscales should be according to the C-G-D-A-E order first, then other scales should
be practised in terms of increasing sharp and flat marks. Theoretically speaking,this is the most straightforward introduction, but it is difficult to play C majorand A minor scales using a natural human hand because fingers’ lengths aredifferent, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers are longer than others. Therefore, whenplaying the C major or A minor, these three fingers’ fingertips position should
be adjusted in terms of the other two. Compared with the relaxed hand bridge on

121

Hummel, Johann Nepomuk. (1828) A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction

on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte. London: Boosey & Co. p. 54.

265

the keys, the hand bridge at this moment needs to be controlled; therefore, it does
not conform to the naturally relaxed structure of the hands. As a result of that,for adolescent beginners, I do not recommend using C major and A minor as themodel for studying scales. Instead, students should take B major and g # minor asa model. Because the longest three fingers are naturally placed on the black keys,
the black keys' height offsets the different lengths between the fingers. This is
more in line with the natural physiological structure of the hand bridge.

Before practising scales, most methods believe that five-finger training isnecessary. Keystroke practice is the first step for practising all playing techniques,
just like human beings have to learn to walk before jumping and running.
Regarding the keystroke, the hand bridge is the basic structure, which has been
discussed above. For keystroke technique I will refer to the Spencer and Hughes’s
method discussed in Chapter IV. Teachers can lead students to practise anotherkeystroke exercise: Imagine fingers as two legs and the MCP joints as the waist.
Then, place an eraser on the hand bridge (opisthenar) and strike keys by using
each finger from the thumb to little finger, using the method described by Spencer
and Hughes. During the exercise, keep the eraser on the hand bridge, sit the bodystraight, and let wrists, arms and shoulders relax.122 Although the length of eachfinger is different it is necessary not to allow the plane of the back of the hand tohave an excessive inclination to ensure that the eraser does not fall. Therefore,

122

This exercise comes from Professor Miho Shibata, the author’s piano supervisor.

266

when approaching the ring finger and little finger, turn the wrist outward
gradually at first, and then strike the key with a straight little finger almost
vertical to the key; in other words, there is almost a right angle at the MCP joint
between the little finger and the back of the hand (see Figure 5.11). However,
because of individual differences, the angle could be bigger or smaller. If there
is no significant difference in the length of the little finger, ring finger, andmiddle finger, the angle is much larger than a right angle. It could also be close
to a right angle, but in any case, it will not be smaller than the right angle.
Additionally, because of the coordinated function of the hand, when the little
finger tries to make the angle, the forearm has to extent forward slightly tosupplement the length of the little finger. Therefore, the students should noticethis physiological feature.

Figure 5.11
Five-finger exercise hand position*Made by the author

267

The 19th-century methods are the most systematic and detailed in thepractice of scales. These methods include the following contents: Do the
preparatory exercise first, practise with hands separately and then together, playscales with parallel motion and then in contrary motion, vary the tempo fromslow to fast, and finally practice scales with different dynamics. However, inscale playing, the most difficult skills are passing the thumb under fingers andthe fingers over the thumb smoothly, and the former is very complicated.
Concerning practice strategies for thumb crossing, Richardson, Plaidy, Pauer,and Leschetizky suggested preparatory exercises that isolate the motion ofpassing the thumb under the fingers and the fingers over the thumbs. They all
wrote such exercises for students, like the following examples:

Example 5.3 Richardson’s finger crossing exercise 123

123

Richardson, Nathan. (1859) New Method for the Piano-forte. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Company.

p. 43.

268

Example 5.4 Plaidy’s finger crossing exercise 124

Example 5.5 Pauer’s finger crossing exercise125

Example 5.6 Leschetizky’s finger crossing exercise 126

124

Plaidy, Louis. (1852) Technische Studien für das Pianoforte spiel. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.

p. 26.
125

Pauer, Ernst. (1877) The Art of Pianoforte Playing. London: Novello, Ewer & Company. p. 15

126

Brée, Malwine. (1902) The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method. New York: G. Schirmer. p.

23, 24.

269

It can be seen that in the methods of Richardson and Pauer, the fingering is
indicated using the traditional Anglo-American system. The thumb is not the 1st
finger, but the index finger is the 1st finger. This is a traditional fingering system
inherited from the period before the Bach. It might make one more aware of theparticularities of thumb, which may have some enlightenment for adolescent
beginners.

According to modern research, these practices are based on the rotation andextension of the wrist, forearm, and shoulder. If without rotations and extensions,the scale playing will be difficult. When passing the thumb under the 3rd or 4th
finger, with the 3rd or 4th fingers as the fulcrum, the thumb naturally passes
through the hand bridge formed by the fulcrum, gliding along like a car passing
through a tunnel. Of course, by analogy, the tunnel remains still while only the
car is moving. The downward movement of the thumb reflects its unique
physiological characteristics because its lateral movement range is broader than270

that of other fingers. Also, it should be noted that the movement of the thumbdepends on its third joint, the CMC joint (see Figure 2.1). Additionally, when
the thumb passes under other fingers, it should quickly reach the destination key
and then use the third joint of the thumb (CMC) to strike the key vertically.
However, these preparatory exercises mentioned above are all based on C major
as the model. When we put hands on the piano and form the hand bridge, theposition of B major is the most suitable for this physiological feature because of
the relationship between the length of fingers. When practising with B major, thedisplacement between the thumb and the key will be shortened because the third
finger as the fulcrum is naturally placed on the black keys and the included angle
between the thumb tip and the key plane is relatively small. Therefore, adolescent
beginners can practise the exercises above in B major as well. For example:

Example 5.7 The thumb exercise in the right hand

*Made by the author

After completing the preparatory exercises above, the student can start scale
practice. The scale practice methods in the 19th century mentioned above areavailable for adolescent beginners, and their playing manners should beunderstood at first, then the physiological methods of the 20th century can be271

guided. Scale practice in the 20th century has been improved by integrating thetheories of the 19th century with new scientific insights. First, Breithaupt’s
methods revealed that the scale practice should not start in C major. Passing the
thumb under the fingers and fingers over the thumb should be executed byrotation of the longitudinal axis of the forearm (Breithaupt, 1909), and this idea
influenced scale practice in the 20th century. To study scales, the student should
start in B and Db , F # and G b , then A b and E b , E and A, and finally are the others(Breithaupt, 1909), since these scales are most suitable for the physiologicalstructure of human hands and the rotation techniques. Moreover, the preparatory
exercises for scales in the 20th century have been improved by combining
rotation skills, as shown in the example below:

Example 5.8 Right hand preparatory exercise in B major*Made by the author

Rotation should be added to the preparatory exercise, and students have to
use it freely in scale playing. As can be seen from Example 5.8, the arrow downmeans rotation towards the thumb (radius side, inward), the arrow up means
rotation towards the little finger (ulna side, outward) (Matthay, 1932). Similarly,
inward and outward rotation can be practised with Example 5.8. In addition, there272

is also a new understanding of thumb usage. The physiological mechanism of
passing the thumb under the fingers is flexion and extension on the lateral levelof the CMC joint. After passing the thumb should strike the key vertically by the
CMC joint and at this time the motion of the thumb is unnatural. One more thingthat should be noted is that while the thumb passes under the fingers, the weighttransfer will lose some quantity of weight (Ortmann, 1929), and the reaction of
the keys is opposite to the movement of the arm (Gát, 1968). Hence, students
should pay attention to keep the weight on the hand bridge, and the direction of
the thumb’s keystroke should be opposite to the direction of the hand motion to
avoid an unbalanced and unsmooth keystroke.

There are two techniques, lateral shifting and weight touch, which can beapplied to scale practice. They are based on the 19th-century method and canbring a qualitative improvement for adolescent beginners (Breithaupt, 1909). I
summarised this specific method and combined with hand movements, then got
the following figure.

273

Figure 5.12
the hand movements with scale exercise within an octave in B major*Made by the author

In Figure 5.12, we can see that the movement consists of rolling and lateral
tilting when playing the scale. Students should put the arm’s weight on the thumbat first; then play C # and D # with the rotary arm and swing off the key at the end.
In other words, it means releasing weight when playing D # with the 3rd finger.
Meanwhile, the weight should be put on the 3rd fingers (its MCP joint), which isthe same as the arm drop exercise with the 3rd finger; then with the 3rd finger asa pivot, pass the thumb under the hand bridge by a lateral motion; finally, play
the notes like a five-finger exercise, from E to B, moving the wrist outward
gradually and changing the angle of MCP joint of the 5th finger to keep the planeof hand bridge flat, also simultaneously drawing the forearm inward slightly.
Moreover, the rotary action of the elbow is necessary because of coordinatedfunction, and it is better to keep the wrist outward to avoid muscle tension in thelittle finger (See Breithaupt’s wrist posture section in Chapter IV). Furthermore,274

it is necessary to be careful about the horizontal displacement of finger movement
when crossing the thumb to avoid striking the wrong note. This requires a correct
posture and position of the body and hand, the sense of space, and the coordinatedrotation of the wrist and arm. The vertical movement also should be noticed. As
shown in Figure 5.12, the hand bridge and arm are at the highest point whenplaying D # with the 3rd finger as a pivot. After passing the thumb under thefingers, put the weight on the thumb (its CMC joint); then, because of the weighttransfer, the hand bridge will move a little upward until A #, and the forearm
moves somewhat upward due to its extension; finally, when playing the B, theweight falls on the MCP joint of the 5th finger, and the 5th finger supports thehand with a close right angle in the MCP joint. Additionally, one should be
careful of the inward and outward distance. The instructors need to consider the
position between white and black keys, the player’s finger length, and their hands’size to find the most suitable position for the keystroke.

So far, besides traditional scale practice, I have supplemented some methods
for practising scales through several more scientific points and ideas. Moreover,I would like to give some more new suggestions for adolescent beginners topractice scales: 1) Adolescent beginners have more or less acquired musiceducation no matter whether they are in school or off-campus; therefore, while
practising scales, the musicality can be guided simultaneously so that the practice
can be less frustrating. Also, adolescent beginners can deal with finger techniqueproblems more easily by understanding music. For example, in the Hanon, which275everyone has practised, there are 24 major and minor scale exercises (it isrecommended to practice B major first), and each of the exercises is in duple
metre, as shown in Figure 5.13,

Figure 5.13
B major scale’s resonance*Made by the author

The duple metre gives an advantage to students because each bar is an octave,with four octaves ascending and descending, and the beginning of each octave ison the first beat. Thus, students can imagine each bar as a musical instrument orcharacter to establish a thematic interpretation. At the end of the scale, students
can sense the harmonic cadence and associate it with the hand movement, shownby the black arrow line in the figure. This develops students’ hands coordination276

and helps the brain quickly identify cadences in future studies, which is helpful
for analysing music. 2) In Figure 5.13, the red wave line and coordinate axis tellus the piano’s resonance effect by the acoustic frequency of the scale.
Inharmonicity is richer in the bass and treble but minimal in the middle section.
That is because the strings in the bass are thicker and longer than other strings ina grand piano, and the piano’s shape increases the inharmonicity coefficient; inthe treble, the inharmonicity coefficient increases because the strings get shorterbut with high tension (Burred, 2009). Therefore, the peaks of the red wave linein the figure are at the treble and bass, which means that the resonance in thesetwo places is the largest. Hence students need to express the sound’s peak withthe piano’s acoustics, which can achieve a “three-dimensional” musical effect.

This part integrated the methods of scale practice from the 19th and 20th
centuries and based on the physiological characteristics of adolescent beginners
put forward several scientific strategies. Moreover, it includes some ideas fromthe 21st century. According to the maturity of bones and muscles in adolescents,
these strategies can provide a more reasonable and scientific theoretical basis foradolescent beginners to practise scales, especially when it comes to using fingers
and arms, and wrist rotation. Scales and arpeggios are usually a set of exercises.
Thus, the next part will discuss the methods of arpeggio practice according to acontemporary perspective of adolescent beginners’ characteristics.

277

5.4.2 Arpeggios
Like scales, arpeggios are also ubiquitous in piano music. However, whenadolescent beginners start to practise arpeggios, they often cannot play themsmoothly and freely, and their fingers cannot come to the correct keys accurately;
meanwhile, their playing is without vitality and continuity. Moreover, theirplaying is usually done either with exaggerated arm movements or only thefingers working. The reason for these problems is that the adolescent beginners
have not obtained coordination and relaxation of their playing apparatus, andthey do not yet understand arpeggios well. Therefore, for them, the first step iscorrectly knowing what an arpeggio is. Though to a certain extent, playing
arpeggios is like playing scale, as both involve passing the thumb under thefingers and the fingers over the thumb, horizontal movement, arm rotation, andweight transfer. However, there are several significant differences in arpeggio
playing, mainly in the following aspects:

The first is keyboard distance. When playing scales and arpeggios, as we allknow, whether ascending or descending, the displacement of fingers is different,
and this displacement has a great deal to do with the length of fingers and thecoordination of wrist and arm. The figures below revealed the displacement of
the thumb, the third finger, and fourth finger when playing scales and arpeggios.
For easy observation, I took scales and arpeggios in C major of the right hand as
examples, and the fingering is indicated on the white keys. In this research, the278

distance of the key is based on the Steinway piano; the width of each white key
is around 22.5mm (±0.5mm) and each black key around 9.5mm, and the gap
between the two white keys is about 0.1mm. Moreover, for the simplified
calculation, the unit for measuring fingers’ displacement is a complete key width.

Figure 5.14
Ascending scale in C major by the right hand

*Made by the author

Figure 5.15
Ascending arpeggio in C major by the right hand

*Made by the author

The figures reveal the finger displacement in scale and arpeggio playing. When
playing the arpeggio, the finger displacement is twice as far horizontally as in
the scale. Moreover, the displacement of the thumb passing under the fingers islonger in arpeggio playing. Thus, as the pivot, the extension and flexion of the279

third finger should be adjusted to adapt to the impact of the displacement change
naturally. This is the second different point in arpeggio performance. However,
it is not enough to rely on pivot alone to pass the thumb under other fingers
because it requires a longer displacement. Therefore, players need to supplement
the longer displacement by shifting arms laterally, and it is the third different
point in arpeggio playing. Furthermore, the arpeggio needs more hand
movements, including forward, backward, and vertical movements, to ensure
weight transfers smoothly. Knowing these three differences between arpeggio
and scale playing will help students to practice arpeggios more productively.

One preparatory exercise for arpeggios has been recognised by pedagogues
over the past three centuries, which is to practise chords first. Chord practice isused to determine the correct fingering and form the hand shape in each chordposition. It is recommended that adolescent beginners learn to play the common
chords in all keys (Richardson, 1859), and while practising them, the hand should
be a little extended and the fingers should move smoothly from one group to thenext (Plaidy, 1852). The exercise is shown as follows:280

Example 5.9 The exercise for fingers to move smoothly 127

This exercise will be helpful for adolescent beginners whose hands can reach anoctave to learn arpeggio playing. In practice, pay attention to the centre of gravity
from one note to another, and use the shoulder to drive the arm to do a slightrotation (Gát, 1968). Weight transfer in arpeggio playing is different from scales
because the weight will be lost during playing. So, this exercise will also help
adolescent beginners practise weight transfer. One more similar preparatory
exercise that can be used for adolescent beginners is the method of Leschetizky.

127

Plaidy, Louis. (1852) Technische Studien für das Pianoforte spiel. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.

p. 41.

281

Example 5.10 The preparatory exercise for arpeggios of Leschetizky 128

He suggests playing the first three notes of the chord first (played like thefive-finger training in the scale preparatory exercise), and then playing the lastnote with the fifth finger with inertia produced by turning the hand towards thefifth finger rapidly. Next the hand returns to the normal position to prepare thenext arpeggio (Brée, 1902). Moreover, after playing the broken chord, students
should be careful of the horizontal movement of the hand and the arm when they
are preparing to play the next arpeggio. At this time, take the fifth finger as thefulcrum to gently flick the whole hand away from the key; the thumb uses flexionand extends horizontally like a leader pulling the hand towards the next chordposition. Then, shape the hand and change the fingering to match the position of
the next chord when fingers leave the keyboard. Finally, putting the weight of
the hand and arm on the thumb (CMC joint) and taking the thumb as the fulcrum,
let the hand fall back to the keyboard.

128

Brée, Malwine. (1902) The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method. New York: G. Schirmer. p.

48.

282

The preparatory exercises above not only need MCP joints to support thehand firmly but also hand-wrist-arm coordination. The order to practise
arpeggios should be from B major, E major, G b major, D b major, and the last one
is C major (Breithaupt, 1909), because of the natural shape of the hand. In the
preparatory exercise, when the hand moves to the next chord, it will produce
horizontal displacement, not only of the fingers but also of the hand, wrist, andarm. Therefore, to ensure the minimum work of the horizontal displacement, thefingers cannot be bent and cannot be completely straight. It should go according
to the length of the fingers, especially the thumb, and we can regard it as a ruler(the CMC joint of the thumb) to measure the distance between the keys. The mostvital finger movement is the thumb passing under the fingers and fingers over
the thumb when moving horizontally. When the thumb passes under the fingers,
the thumb should be extended and placed under the hand bridge and should
prepare to strike the key with a certain angle (not a vertical strike). It should beplayed with continuity (Plaidy, 1852), because the thumb usually leaves the note
before the next finger strikes the key (Philipp, 1908). This should be pointed out
in case the students wrongly think that in order to play legato, they have to disrupt
the coordination of the hand and arm in the horizontal plane.

Besides horizontal displacement, there is also a need for vertical and forward
displacement. This is mentioned in the last part of the section on five-finger
training. As the fingers walk on the keys like feet, they tend to move forward.
Moreover, the MCP joint of the fingers will pull the wrist-arm forward, which is283

also the result of the weight transfer on the hand. Whereas arpeggios are different
from scales, the forward movement in an arpeggio is more intense to offset thelonger playing displacement. Importantly, it should be emphasised that forward
and vertical movements have a significant amplitude in arpeggios with fewer key
signatures such as C major and F major. In arpeggios that have more key
signatures like B major, the amplitude is relatively small. The principle ofvertical movement is the same as that of scales, but the vertical displacement
increases with the key distance. Figure 5.16 and Figure 5.17 show the trajectoryof forward and vertical movements. Take the C major as an example here because
its moving trajectory is the most noticeable one. The Red line shows ascending
arpeggio, and the green line shows descending.

Figure 5.16
The forwards movement of the right hand when playing ascending and descending
arpeggios*Made by the author284

Figure 5.17
The vertical movement of the right hand when playing ascending and descending
arpeggios*Made by the author

As can be seen from the figures, no matter the forward or vertical movement, themovement amplitude of the ascending arpeggio is relatively significant while thatof the descending arpeggio is relatively gentle. In the ascending arpeggio, thethumb is too short to reach the note without an assisting motion. Therefore, theforward extension of the wrist and the arm are indispensable to supplement the
insufficient length and help the thumb reach the position. However, indescending arpeggio, we can utilise inertial force to supplement the insufficient
lengths when passing the finger over the thumb. Moreover, the third and fourth
fingers are longer than the thumb. Hence, compared to the motion that passes thethumb under the other fingers, the amplitude of passing the finger over the
thumb’s motion is relatively gentle. In total, all movements in the horizontal(forward and backwards) and vertical planes include arm shift and rotation, andthey serve to assist thumb action.

285

At the end of this part, some points need to be supplemented. When passing
the thumb under the fingers in ascending arpeggios, the forearm also helps to
supplement the insufficient length. The third finger is the axis, and the fingertips
as the fulcrum to support the entire hand and arm. Currently, use the weight touch.
The thumb moves horizontally with the forearm rotation, and now when the third
finger releases the key, strike the next key from the slope. At this time, thedirection of the keystroke is not vertical, and there is a certain angle between the
thumb tip and key plane. But in the descending arpeggio, the thumb keystroke isclose to vertical. No matter how the finger passes over the thumb or the thumbpass under the finger, the thumb should be prepared in advance, and should
sustain the proper note value (though not legato) until the next strike. The rapid
motion of the thumb is helped by the forearm’s fast shift, to ensure theeffectiveness of weight transfer (Ortmann, 1929). Therefore, it is impossible tokeep the hand motionless in arpeggio playing. If the hand is immobile and only
the fingers move, it will destroy freedom and speed, and is unscientific in termsof physiological principles. In addition, to ensure the effectiveness of weighttransfer, the fingers should not be raised too high as well (Breithaupt, 1909).

5.4.3 Finger Independence
Based on the questionnaire results in Chapter III, finger independence is a
widespread problem among early and late beginners. They think that using the
3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers is difficult. In this part, I will provide a scientific286

theoretical basis and methods for helping them solve the problem. However, tosolve the problem, the first thing they should learn is to cooperate fingers, wrists,
and arms. Next, they must learn to relax the body and read the music, and to solve
technique problems by thinking musically. Finally, it is necessary to abandon theantiquated idea that fingers must be trained like a fast-moving machine.

Finger independence exercise has been perplexing for piano beginners for along time, especially among late beginners. However, due to changes inphysiological conditions, the finger independence practice seems to be morechallenging for late beginners. In Chapter II, I reviewed the physiologicalcharacteristics of adolescent hands. Here, I added one more physiologicalstructure figure about the tendons and nerves of the hand and wrist because they
are the most critical factors affecting finger independence. Figure 5.18 takes themature right hand as an example.

287

Figure 5.18
The tendon and nerves of the right hand and wrist

Source: HandSport Surgery Institute. Re: Wrist Anatomy. Retrieved fromhttps://handsurgeonsnyc.com/patient-education/wrist-anatomy/ (Accessed on Jun 18,
2021)

First of all, according to the figure above, we can see that tendons lead fromthe finger to the arm and connect with the arm muscles. Secondly, the extensor
digitorum tendons of the second, third, and fourth fingers are connected side byside at the wrist. However, an independent tendon, the extensor indicis tendon,
connects with the second finger independently. Unfortunately, the third andfourth fingers are without independent tendons, and both are without independent
flexors and extensors. Therefore, their movements are influenced by each other.
Additionally, the first and fifth fingers each have an independent tendon. Thirdly,
because the innervation of the fourth and fifth fingers is done by the ulnar nerve,
even if the tendon of the fifth finger is independent, its movement will be affectedby the fourth finger.

288

Consequently, the fingers fall into two patterns: the first and fifth finger as
one pattern, and the second, third, and fourth fingers as another pattern. Because
there is an independent tendon connecting the second finger, its movement canescape from the restraint of the third and fourth finger. Moreover, because thefourth and the fifth fingers share the same nerve, their movements will affecteach other. More importantly, all tendons are connected to the muscles of thearm, so the movement of the fingers cannot be ever independent of the arm, whichmeans the arm essentially provides the fingers’ energy. Thus, students andinstructors should practise finger independence in terms of scientific evidence
rather than blindly by mechanical finger exercise.

In addition to physiological effects, other factors also affect the ability offingers to move independently. Age is the first factor. A study has shown thatstrength and finger coordination change with age, and this change generally
exists in the neuromuscular apparatus (Latash, Shim, Shinohara, & Zatsiorsky,2006). This leads to the decline of the primary motor ability of the index finger
with increasing age (Beek, et al., 2019). Two more factors mechanical coupling
and neuromuscular control influence on the finger independence. Mechanicalcoupling mainly limits the independent ability of the second, third, and fourth
fingers; neuromuscular control limits the fourth and fifth fingers (Lang &Schieber, 2004). Moreover, callosal function is related to the improvement ofhand independence (Gärtner, et al., 2013). Whether the affective factors are age
or other physiological mechanisms, for adolescent beginners, before practising289

finger independence, teachers should help students understand the physiologicalfactors to prevent them from falling into confusion when practising the piano,
blindly thinking that five fingers should be trained to move independently, thus
causing finger injury. Teachers should also be aware the best practices for
improving finger independence practice as well as the characteristics ofadolescence (see Chapter II), thereby formulating effective pedagogies andmethods for adolescent beginners.

Concerning the practice methods for finger independence, I briefly reviewed
the methods of the past three centuries at first in order to find out whether there
are any insights for adolescent students. Then, in consideration of thephysiological characteristics of the hand mentioned above, a theoretical practicemethod will be put forward for adolescent students. Chapter IV mentioned thetraining apparatuses used for finger exercises in the 19th century, but their design
and utilisation mostly violate basic physiological and physical principles, theresult is injury to the users’ fingers and hands. However, the training andexercises provided in the following are based on modern scientific research, theirsafety and effectiveness are relatively higher than earlier methods.

The practice of finger independence has been valued as early as Bach’s time.
First, people thought that each finger should be trained equally, especially interms of strength, to obtain the same ability. Then the high finger method became
popular for a while, which made people think that the high finger method is a290

life-saving tool to help acquire finger independence. Next, another method
derived from the high finger became mainstream: holding down two or four
adjacent keys with fingers and striking the keys with the remaining fingers. The
first systematic description of this method is in the book, Anweisung das
Pianoforte mit Hülfe des Handleiters Spielen zu lernen = Méthode pourapprendre le piano à l’aide du guide-mains: oeuvre 108, which written by
Kalkbrenner, and it was published around 1832 or 1833 in Leipzig. Since then,Herz, Richardson, and others have put forward similar practice methods. They
believe that when students are striking the keys through the high finger, it canstrengthen fingers and separate fingers more effectively. Even in the 20th century,
it was still the prevalent method. Liszt (1976), Pischna (1931), and Gillock (Burr& Gillock, 1976) all thought the method is helpful. Moreover, Leschetizky
thought using the fourth and fifth fingers to hold down keys while the otherfingers play can improve independence, and Leschetizky added that students
should remember to repeat the wrist movement in practice (Brée, 1902).
Bernstein believed that the high finger method is the best way to gain
independence (Bernstein, 1981). Nevertheless, Fielden recognised that finger
independence is affected by the nerve impulses from the stationary fingers, which
are concentrated in the nerves of the moving fingers (Fielden, 1949). Therefore,
when a finger is working, it is harmful to the other fingers that are holding down
keys because the nerves of those fingers are also working at this time. It forcesthese fingers to restrain the nerve excitation and cause them to be cumbersome291

and can even damage the nerves. Additionally, Last (1972), Gát (1968),
Kochevitsky (1967), and Sándor (1982) are also against this approach. Therefore,
this method’s potential harms are worth considering. Instead, the fingers should
cooperate while practising their independence and be coordinated with the wrist
and arm.

A few persons have held this perception in the past three centuries, and themost famous one, undoubtedly, is Breithaupt. He believes that neither fingers nor
hands cannot move entirely independently. He said,

allow nature full freedom of action; employ both arms resolutely, intrepidly,
to attain the particular or common object… freedom or dexterity of both (leftand right) nerve-centres by a steady, gradual development of theorganism.129

Relaxing the arm is crucial for independence practice, and relaxing the wrist isalso very important. This is because a relaxed wrist can stabilise the finger joints(Breithaupt, 1909). For this reason, Breithaupt believed that as long as you canrelax, finger independence can be obtained simultaneously. Moreover, he thoughtthat weight and rotation can help acquire finger independence, and he realised

129

Breithaupt, Rudolf Maria. (1909) Natural Piano Technique Vol. 2: School of Weight-Touch-

Natural Piano Technic. Leipzig: C. F. Kahnt Nachfolger. p. 58.

292

that independence is closely related to the brain (the innervation of the central
nervous system).

Sándor holds the same viewpoint as Breithaupt. Sándor analysed thephysiological structure of the third, fourth, and fifth fingers and concluded that
all fingers cannot practise independently without the help of the arm. Sándor also
insisted that the five-finger exercises can achieve finger independence. (Sándor,
1982) Nevertheless, students should pay attention to avoid playing the next tone
before the last key is completely restored, which is not helpful to practise finger
independence, and students should pay attention with their ears (Ortmann, 1929).
If the tendon of the finger can function with the connected muscle in a straightplane, the finger’s movement will become smoother. Therefore, it requires therelaxation of wrists and arms and the correct playing posture, for which you canrefer to Figure 4.5 and Figure 4.6.

Many beginners and even instructors usually think it is necessary to practisewith high fingers and force fingers to strike the piano keys because the fingers
are too weak. However, the muscle strength of the fingers cannot be increased
because the finger movements depend on the muscles of the forearm, including
the fifth finger, which is reinforced by the rotation of the forearm (Sándor, 1982).
As shown in to Figure 5.18, each finger relates to its respective muscle in theforearm. As mentioned in Chapter II, hand muscles control all kinds of finger
movements. Therefore, the most direct way to make fingers powerful is to293strengthen hand muscles. Enhancing handgrip strength perhaps is one of thequickest ways.

Furthermore, some persons believe that staccato can be used to effectively
practise finger independence. Chopin believed this. He thinks that students
should practise staccato before studying legato (Eigeldinger, 2011). Staccato has
three types of execution, which include playing with finger, wrist, or arm. In fact,playing staccato in a slow tempo can promote finger independence. In addition,
Whiteside suggested practising double notes (mainly double thirds) and trills to
help the fingers gain independence. She stressed that students should not practise
finger independence alone but must cooperate with hands, fingers, forearms, andupper arms (Whiteside, 1961).

In general, the exercise of finger independence should depend on thecoordination and relaxation of the wrist and arm. We should abandon the oldschool and rely on essential physiological characteristics and modern methods.
As Leschetizky (Brée, 1902) and Gát (1968) said, finger independence needs tobe controlled by the brain, which is consciousness, and students must learn tocontrol fingers under conscious direction. This helps form unconditioned
response, and finally they can obtain finger independence (Brée, 1902).
Moreover, Gát’s physical exercises are comprehensive, and he has designed
special exercises for lots of techniques such as octaves, skips, and so on. In these
exercises, repeated vertical and horizontal motion enables the joints from294

shoulder to the fingers to activate all prominent playing organs (Gát, 1968).
Furthermore, the contemporary studies have revealed that pianist’s fingers havemore nerve cells, especially the nerve cells in the ring finger are more than in theindex finger; however, no matter how the fingers move, there is no significant
change in the related areas of the pianist’s brain (Furuya, 2012). This further
proves that the formation of unconditioned response is inevitable for finger
independence. Exercises may not only be on the keys but can also train the brain
through physical practice. For physical practice, Mikimoto invented a training
board according to the human hand’s physiological properties, as shown in
Figure 5.19,

Figure 5.19
Mikimoto training board

Source: ト レ ー ニ ン グ ボ ー ド ピ ア ノ 練 習 補 助 ⽊ 製 . Retrieved fromhttps://www.amazon.co.jp/ ト レ ー ニ ン グ ボ ー ド - ピ ア ノ - 練 習 補 助 -T-80- ⽊ 製/dp/B075MxDYHBB (Accessed on Feb 28, 2022)

The purpose of the training board is to practise finger independence and hand
position. By installing different numbers of small round wood pieces, the users295

can train fingers in different ways according to necessity. Mikimoto also offeredanother method to practise finger independence and strength: Palm downward,
put the wrist and arm on the table and keep relaxed, then use the muscles of thearm to lift and then put down each finger in turn. Next, put the palm upward, thenhang a small object (about 50g) on the index finger, then bend the finger inward
toward the palm. Finally, put it back to the original place. (Mikimoto, 2010) It isa way to strengthen the fingers. For specific practice methods, students andinstructors can refer to Mikimoto’s method book.

In addition, when practising the fourth finger, students should notice its
particular physiological structure, and should not force it to move, but try to use
its muscles connected with the arm to control the activity. Furthermore, the fifth
and first fingers are particular patterns because there are independent muscles.
While using the arm muscles that connect with their tendons, you should also
corporately use related hand muscles. These methods follow the basic
coordination principle of the arm, wrist, and finger, which can lead adolescent
beginners to understand the coordination function between arm and hand muscles.
It is also a physical application of Breithaupt’s method.

5.5 Conclusion and Supplements

This chapter discusses pedagogies and methods for adolescent beginners byseeking out method books of the past three centuries, consulting contemporary296

scientific research, and heeding the characteristics of adolescents. These
effective instruction strategies and practice methods are discussed in four aspects:
1) postures; 2) relaxation and coordination; 3) score reading and music learning;4) the playing difficulties encountered by adolescent beginners (scales, arpeggios
and finger independence). These four aspects are also the basic steps foradolescent beginners to learn piano. In other words, posture – relaxation – music
theory – techniques, which reflects the adaptability of adolescent’s physiologicaland psychological properties, as well as the significance of physical coordinationand mental practice. Referring to these learning steps can help adolescent
beginners study and practise piano effectively. In addition, ear and rhythm
training are also crucially important in the early stage.

Moreover, it can also be concluded that posture, relaxation, and coordination
affect piano performance at the physical level, while musicality affects piano
performance at mental and psychological levels. Musical image is closely related
to muscle activity, and the piano playing action corresponds to the aural image(Gát, 1968). The touch perception of the fingers and muscle locomotion also
affect the timbre because the vibration frequency of each sound is felt by
touching the key (Fassina, 2000). Muscle contraction and nerve conduction indifferent movements reflect different musical images and timbral effects, whichmeans that aesthetic sense determines the music expression served by techniques.
Therefore, the cultivation of this aesthetic sense is important for adolescent
beginners. From Chapter II, we can see the characteristics of adolescent297

beginners in psychology and cognition. Although they cannot adapt to piano
playing rapidly due to their physical structure, they have more advantages interms of musical understanding. According to my own learning experience,
studying musical interpretation at first is effective. The difficulties of any finger
techniques can be solved by music, rather than through physically repeatedpractice. The following sections will supplement some advanced methods fordaily practice and provide exercise repertoires for adolescent beginners.

First, regarding daily practice time: In the past, most methods thought thatthree or four hours each day for practice was the most appropriate. Breithaupt
recommended one of two regimens: Amateur students need one or two hours, andprofessional students need three or four hours (Breithaupt, 1909). However,according to the survey results in Chapter III, non-professional adolescent
beginners spend about forty-five minutes to two hours, while professional
students spend about two to three hours every day. However, modern scientificresearch reveals that three hours and forty-five minutes for daily piano practiceis the most appropriate time even for professional students (Furuya, 2012). Moreextended practice causes fatigue and has a higher risk of deleterious effects on
hand muscles. Therefore, it is suggested that adolescent beginners practise forone hour every day when they just start to study the piano, and it should include
relaxation exercises. Then gradually increase to two hours, during which time
students need to review old pieces and practise new works. Indeed, if the student
wants to be a professional player, he needs to practise for three hours every day.
298

During the three hours, except reviewing and practising the new content, thestudent should read and understand the music carefully and simultaneously
memorise the score as fast as possible.

Then, instructors should not force beginners to play loudly but touch the key
correctly with relaxation and coordinated locomotive organs, even if the sounds
are weak. This has been approved by Breithaupt, Gát and other past educators.
Furthermore, when beginners are practising, instructors should constantly remindthem to rest to prevent muscle fatigue (Brée, 1902). Instructors should help
beginners develop their sense of rhythm and learn musical terms to understandthe musical contents. At the same time, in order to help students play smoothly,teachers should also correct students’ fingerings, because the three foundationsof playing the piano – notes, fingerings, and counting are essential. Also,
Newman suggests students who can already play Bach’s inventions should begin
new pieces through the following steps: 1) Select the piece and decide thefingerings and find the appropriate key-touch techniques; 2) Practise slowly withthe metronome, find the rhythm of the music, and memorise the score
simultaneously; 3) Follow the metronome to play in tempo, and then separate it
into several small sections to practice. (Newman, 1984) Here you shouldcarefully analyse the details like the phrasings. I believe this is an effective
traditional learning method. Although memorisation is required in the second
step, that is difficult. However, the earlier you remember the score, the better you
can focus on playing and music. In my opinion, due to the memory function of299

human muscles and nerves, I prefer to divide the music into several small
segments according to the phrasings and practise it in tempo during step 2), afterthat student can practise slowly with the metronome in step 3). This is because,
if you practise in a slow tempo at the beginning, the brain will receive different
action information from the original speed, which could lead to lower efficiency
in practice later. On the contrary, if you start practising in the original tempo, thehand and arm actions and muscle functions will be remembered by the brain, andin later practice, even at a slow tempo, your locomotive organs can coordinate
according to the original tempo. In other words, whether in a slow or fast tempo,
we should ensure the formation of the same muscle coordination and action.
Mechanics and music development are integrated; beginners should browse manymusic scores to create a connection between visuals and physical performance(Gát, 1968), and always remember that music and mechanics are a complete
whole, because “𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 + 𝑚𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑠 = 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒”.

Next, I must emphasise the importance and necessity of physical exercise
again. Firstly, the purpose of physical exercises is to relax the locomotive organs
and make their neuromuscular systems coordinate with each other more naturally
and reasonably. Secondly, muscle activity and function cannot be fully utilisedfor playing instruments. Thirdly, the actions involved in instrument playing arehighly controlled. Furthermore, physical exercise should be a relaxing movement,
which can help the muscles find a naturally relaxed state rapidly and adapt tocoordination functions. Therefore, the students should do these physical300

exercises appropriately to avoid muscle and body fatigue. Also, when some partsof the body are doing the exercise, other parts that are not in use should keep
relaxed. Moreover, students should always notice the stability and fluency ofbreathing during the physical exercises because smooth breathing can ensure that
lactic acid is dissolved and provide sufficient oxygen, which is necessary for theefficient operation of the brain and long-term playing.

Last, I would like to provide some works to practise for adolescent beginners.
These repertoires may not be familiar, but they were widely used by plenty of
famous musicians and educators in the past centuries. From the pedagogies ofthe past three centuries, few methods include systematic teaching repertoires.
After sorting them out, only Chopin, Plaidy, and Pauer introduced teachingrepertoires in their pedagogies. Moreover, through my practical playing andanalysis, I have come to consider them valuable works that should be rerecognised and re-studied. Also, these works are good choices for those students
who started learning piano after age ten, because teachers such as Chopin also
guided several late beginners by using the following works. I also integrated
Plaidy and Pauer’s repertoires, and they are separately listed with Chopin’s
repertoires.

301

Table 5.1
Chopin’s practising repertories for adolescent beginners
Bach, J. S.
Beethoven, L. v.
Clementi, M.
Cramer, J. B.
Hummel, J. N.
Mendelssohn, F.
Moscheles, I.
Weber, C. M. v.

-

Suites (French, English, Partita)
The Well-tempered Clavier: 48 Preludes and Fugues
Piano Sonatas Op. 26, Op. 27 No. 2 and Op. 57
Preludes and Exercises, and Gradus ad ParnassumStudiesPiano Sonatas Op. 81
Songs Without Words
24 Etudes, Op. 70
12 The Characteristic Etudes, Op. 95
Piano Sonatas Op. 24 and Op. 39*Made by the author

According to Chopin’s disciples, after practising the works listed above wellenough, Chopin would give students his works such as Etudes Op. 10 and Op. 25
to practise; Chopin guided late beginners in scale study by using Clementi’s
Preludes and Exercises, No. 1, and he demanded that students practise thesepieces with vivid and soft sounds, however, Chopin’s teaching methods do notinclude any of Schumann’s works (Eigeldinger, 2011). Except Beethoven,
Mendelssohn, and Bach, Chopin also provided works written by Moscheles,
Cramer, Hummel, and Weber. Their works also convey a range of musicalcharacters, especially their sonatas and etudes. Technically speaking, their works
are not as complicated as Chopin or Liszt, and it is easier to use fingers while
playing them. Furthermore, in the music of Chopin, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, andLiszt, some musical features and styles and even playing skills are similar to
Hummel, Weber, and Moscheles. Therefore, for adolescent beginners, in the302early and middle stages of learning, Chopin’s repertoires for teaching are
valuable for study.

Plaidy and Pauer have given suggestions on the selection of repertoire topractise in their method books (Plaidy, 1852) (Pauer, 1877). I summarised theirsuggestions according to the following three levels to provide adolescent
beginners and instructors a list of choices.

Table 5.2
Plaidy and Pauer’s repertoires for the beginners
Berens, H.
Bertini, H.
Clementi, M.
Czerny, C.
Duvernoy, J. B.
Enckhausen, H. F. Gurlitt, C.
Heller, S.
Köhler, L.
Krause, E.
Lernoine, H.
Loschhorn, A.
Schmitt, A.

-

Neueste Schule der Geläufigkeit, Op.61
12 Etudes de Genre, Op. 73
20 Etudes enfantines, Op. 79
25 Etudes Faciles et Progressives, Op. 100
Preludes and Exercises, Op. 43
Gradus ad Parnassum, Op. 44
100 Progressive Studies, Op. 139
The School of Velocity, Op. 299
40 Daily Studies, Op. 337
25 Elementary Studies, Op. 176
Des Pianoforte-Spielers erste Studien, Op. 63
24 Easy Melodious Studies, Op. 50
24 Melodious Studies of Medium Difficulty, Op.51
20 Studies in Rhythm and Expression, Op. 52
53
25 Etudes, Op. 47
Die leichtesten Etüden, Op. 151
Die ersten Etüden für jeden Klavierschüler als
technische Grundlage der Virtuosität, Op. 50
4 Klavierstücke, Op. 4
Études enfantines, Op. 37
33 Etudes progressives et doigtées, Op. 66
Etudes, Op. 16*Made by the author

303

Table 5.3
Plaidy and Pauer’s repertoires for the advanced students
Bach, J. S.
Bertini, H.
Clementi, M.
Cramer, J. B.
Czerny, C.

-

Inventions, BWV 772 – 786-

24 Etudes, Op. 29
24 Etudes, Op. 32
Toccata in B b major, Op. 11
Studies
The Art of Finger Dexterity, Op. 740
Toccata in C major, Op. 92-

Studien und Etüden für das Pianoforte, Op. 24
Döring, K. H.
Rhythmische Studien und Etüden für das Pianoforte, Op.
30- 25 Etudes Mélodiques, Op. 45,
Heller, S.
- 30 Etudes Progressives, Op. 46
Kessler, J. C. - 24 Etudes, Op. 20
Köhler, L.
- Neue Geläufigkeitsschule für Klavier, Op. 128
Loschhorn, A. - 18 Etüden in fortschreitender Ordnung, Op. 67- Grand Toccata in E major
Mayer, C.
- 12 Studien, Op. 119- Ecole de la Velocité, Op. 200
Moscheles, I. - 50 Preludes, Op. 73
Müller, B.
- 3 Caprices, Op. 70
Onslow, G.
- Toccata in C major, Op. 6*Made by the author

Table 5.4
Plaidy and Pauer’s repertoires for the more advanced students
Bach, J. S.
Bennett, W. S.
Berger, L.
Chopin, F.
Czerny, C.
Döhler, T.
Goldschmidt, S.
Heller, S.
Henselt, A. v.
Hiller, F.

- The Well-tempered Clavier: 48 Preludes and Fugues- 6 Etudes in the Form of Capriccios, Op. 11- 15 Etudes, Op. 12- 15 Etudes, Op. 22- 12 Etudes, Op. 10- 12 Etudes, Op. 25- The School of the Legato and Staccato, Op. 335- Variations Brillantes on “Conversations Walzer”,
Op. 353- 12 Etudes de concert, Op.30- 12 Concert Etüden, Op. 13- The Art of Phrasing, Op. 16- 12 Études caractéristiques, Op. 2- 12 Études de salon, Op. 5- Etudes, Op. 15
304

Kalkbrenner, F. W.
Köhler, L.
Liszt, F.
Mendelssohn, F.
Moscheles, I.
Schumann, R.
Seeling, H.
Taubert, W.
Thalberg, S.

-

Souvenirs de “Zanetta”, Op. 145
12 Special Etudes, Op. 112
3 Études de concert, S.144
Grandes études de Paganini, S.141
Études d’Exécution Transcendante, S 139
6 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 35
3 Preludes, Op. 104a
3 Etudes, Op. 104b
24 Etudes, Op. 70
12 The Characteristic Etudes, Op. 95
Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13
Toccata, Op. 7
Etudes after Paganini Caprices, Op.3
6 Concert Etudes after Paganini Caprices, Op. 10
12 Concert Etudes, Op. 10
12 Études de Concert, Op. 40
12 Etudes, Op. 26*Made by the author

305

Chapter VI: Conclusion
This dissertation was formed in response to the state of the piano education
environment in contemporary China. Although more and more adolescentstudents are starting to learn piano, for these students, the teaching methods are
not perfect. Thus, those students learn piano with low efficiency, whereas
Chinese society has higher and higher requirements for artistic accomplishment
in school education. Therefore, discovering how to help those students practice
the piano scientifically and efficiently and providing a set of reasonablepedagogies for instructors become an urgent task. On the other hand, the reformof traditional empiricism in teaching is also a primary task in the current scienceand information era. At the same time, understanding music by idealism also
needs the support of materialist theory. Music should not be only felt, but also
needs to be comprehended scientifically by music and instrument learners.
Therefore, for instructors, this study has presented several scientific and efficient
strategies to help them guide adolescent beginners.

From the perspective of physiology and physics, this study has discussed thecharacteristics of adolescence, and the problems that current adolescent
beginners and teachers face have been discovered through a questionnaire survey.
These problems have been discussed in relation to solutions provided by themethods and pedagogies from the past three centuries. Finally, I have discussed
the mechanics of piano playing and provided a set of scientific practice methods306

for adolescent beginners and an educational reference for the instructors.

Chapter II discusses the physiological characteristics in adolescents related
to piano playing in five aspects: muscle strength, hand structure, flexibility,
motor skills, and proprioception. Compared with early childhood, body maturity
in adolescence develops rapidly and changes significantly; male and female
hormone levels affect muscle density and bring changes in muscle strength. In
adolescence, the hand strength of a male is usually more robust than that of afemale. However, it can be strengthened by physical exercise. The developmentof hand bones and phalanges in males and females is also different at different
ages. Females generally develop between the ages of 13 ~ 15, while males
develop between the ages of 14 ~ 16, and the strength of the hand structure andphalanges can be enhanced through physical exercises. The development ofadolescent skeletons leads to decreased flexibility, especially in males; also, thecartilage which is one of the main factors affecting flexibility is thicker than infemales. At the same time, physical exercise can also ameliorate the lack offlexibility. In summary, the instructors need to arrange learning plans reasonably
according to the characteristics of adolescent students at different ages and guidethem through some physical exercises for additional training to improve physicalfunction. Finally, concerning motor skills and proprioception, they influencemobility and decrease with age. Moreover, proprioception is directly related to
motor skills and the precision of fingers’ tactile sense. Understanding these
physiological principles can lay a scientific foundation for instructors when307making teaching plans.

Chapter III, through questionnaire research and interviews, has presented the
difficulties that adolescent beginners face and how teachers guide them. The
study has found that adolescent beginners’ sensitivity to music (including
solfeggio), key touch, and finger use (independence) are not good as the early
beginners. The results have revealed that adolescent beginners think these are themost difficult piano learning and practice content. However, the reasons for these
difficulties the students realized can be found in Chapter II. They are caused by
the changes in proprioceptive and motor skills in adolescence. The conclusion
has provided a scientific basis for adolescent beginners and teachers to know therelevant factors so that they can arrange piano practice and teach effectively.
Moreover, teachers believe that playing posture, score reading, and music theory
are the most critical steps when teaching adolescent beginners. Furthermore, theresearch also obtained some psychological conclusions, which showed thatadolescent beginners’ emotions during piano practice are directly proportional todaily piano practice time, while the early beginners reflected a correlation
between emotions and practice time. This chapter has provided an essential
foundation for understanding the difficulties adolescent students face in practiceand learning, and also for teachers to determine how to help those students. Also,
it has grounded the core content of this study –the methods and pedagogies
proposed in Chapter V.

308

In Chapter IV, I reorganised and re-explored the pedagogies and methods ofthe past three centuries. On one hand, from the perspective of historical value,
this research has studied more than forty method books, from which the teaching
methods of Hummel, Philipp, and Chopin have been contextualized. They not
only made outstanding contributions to piano music, but also put forward many
far-reaching methods in education, which include the methods for late beginners.
On the other hand, with the progress of society and the development of scienceand technology, these methods have gradually transformed piano education fromempiricism to justified pragmatism. Moreover, those methods put forward
multiple scientific hypotheses, later verified by contemporary researchers withhigh-tech equipment. Finally, those methods give inspiration and impetus to thequest to develop more efficient and reasonable practice methods and pedagogies.
Also, in this study, the practice methods and pedagogies that can be used foradolescent beginners, which lays a theoretical foundation for the research of thenext chapter.

Chapter V has presented a series of methods strategies for instructors to help
them guide adolescent beginners. The learning order for adolescent beginners
should focus on posture, relaxation, and coordination first, then music learning,
including music theory and score reading, and finally performance techniques.
The methods given concerning playing posture, relaxation, and coordination have
proven scientific and effective. Therefore, they should be widely popularisedamong adolescent beginners. On the other hand, learning music theory and score309

reading has always been considered effective based on the informal observationsof teachers, but has been gradually proved to be reasonable by modern scientificmeans. Concerning playing techniques, I have theoretically verified thescientificity of postures, scales and arpeggios, however, although these methods
are effective in theory, they still lack the verification of practical feedback.
Therefore, the methods I provide will need to be practised and continuously
improved from feedback in the future.

The compilation of textbooks has always begun as a theoretical approach
which proceeded to publication, later modified and supplemented based on the
feedback received from users after long-term use. For teachers like Czerny or
Hanon, their teaching materials were written and published, then theeffectiveness has been proved through continuous practice by later generations.
Similarly, textbooks such as Thompson have been used for many years and thenmodified according to the users’ feedback to advance with the times to meet theneeds of social development and education. However, if a method or textbook isdesigned and tested for a short period within a small-scale survey, the results areinaccurate and have no statistical significance. Consequently, it is an error tofocus on narrow data points while ignoring the insights of generations of teachersand students. It is better to listen to the voices from practitioners who will tackle
the problems in the future and lead pedagogues to make more precise textbooks
and method books. Thus, as the research motivation, it will provide a theoreticalbasis for the complete methodology and teaching materials in the future.
310

This dissertation has given an overview of piano performance from theperspective of physiology and physical mechanics and inspected performance
practices from macro to micro, which is rare in contemporary pedagogies. On
one hand, it found that piano performance is closely related to the functions ofmuscle and skeleton, but the effect of the neurotransmitter conduction is more
important. The quality of neurotransmitter conduction impacts key elements ofperformance, including finger independence (related to the number of nerve
cells), score reading (related to the optic nerve), solfeggio (related to the auditory
nerve), and other musical tasks (involving brain circuits). Also, the help of therespiratory system is necessary to relieve physical fatigue and physiologicaltension. On the other hand, the human body is an organism composed of multiple
levers, from the trunk to the knuckles, and when these levers are used, gravity is
the most significant influencing factor. Therefore, while making good use of yourbody, you should also utilize gravity, which is extremely important for economic
piano playing. In addition, due to differences in age, children and adolescents
have different ways to obtain information. Most children learn things and obtain
information naturally and directly, while adolescents begin to rely on abstract
models, making it difficult to solve problems directly and perceptually. Thus,
instructors should concentrate on helping adolescent beginners grasp theprinciples of the piano playing before they go astray. For this reason, I am
looking forward to future psychological research that can further advance piano
education.

311

Everything in the universe has laws, from galaxies to quarks. The essence oflearning any musical instrument is to learn music. Everything is changing andevolving. Musical instruments are a pure means of expression if you can learnmusic well. Therefore, playing technique comes from music, and music comesfrom the brain. The evolution of all things in the world may eventually movetowards a collection of consciousness, whereas, before that, in our threedimensional universe, consciousness ultimately needs entities to perform andexpress, and this is our science and technology. However, in the long river ofscientific and technological development, we should recognise a philosophicaltruth: “After a long period of division, things tend to unite; after a long period ofunion, things tend to divide.” This is a generalization about history from ancient
Chinese philosophy. Since ancient Greece, the division of disciplines has become
more detailed, and with the social progress and scientific development, eachdiscipline has been divided into many different research areas. However, wecannot sever the connection between disciplines, and it is a mistake to study any
matter in isolation, ignoring the relevance of other areas of knowledge. Therefore,
we should integrate our thinking and look for the countless connections between
all things, which is indispensable for understanding our own disciplinecomprehensively, and which is the only way to meet the challenges faced bypiano teachers in the 21st century.

312

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