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A NEGLECTED SENSE IN PIANO-PLAYING
A NEGLECTED SENSE
IN
PIANO-PLAYING
BY
DANIEL GREGORY MASON
-º-
NEW YORK
G. SCHI R MER
1912
MUSIC - X:
NAT
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tlv\42.
COPYRIGHT, IQI2,
BY
G. SCHIRMER
23336
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PREFATORY NOTE
FOR the underlying idea here presented, and
for many features of its development, the
author wishes to record his indebtedness to Mr.
Edward J. de Coppet, well known as the founder
of the Flonzaley Quartet. Mr. de Coppet him-
self is a striking example of the practical
usefulness of his method. Playing the piano
desultorily all his life, he never acquired a skill
in any degree commensurate with his musical
taste until, at fifty-five, he thought out the way
of attacking the problem through the tactile
sense which is set forth in the following pages.
The rapid progress he then made in facility
and accuracy convinced him of the value of
the idea, and made him anxious to disseminate
it, for the benefit of piano-students, as widely
as possible.
CONTENTS
PAINFUL UNCERTAINTy of AMATEUR PLAYING
DESIRABILITY of TACTILE GUIDANCE
THE TACTILE SENSE LATENT IN ALL PIANISTS
How IT MAY BE DEVELOPED
THE ORDER OF PRACTICE
SPACE-MEASUREMENT BY THE HAND
Exercise I
Exercise II
Exercise III
RECOGNITION OF KEYS BY TOUCH
Exercise IV
SPACE-MEASUREMENT BY THE ARM
Exercise V
APPLICATION of THE TACTILE SENSE IN GENERAL PRACTICE
CoNCENTRATION-ExERCISES ON THE SOUNDLESS CLAVIER
SEconDARY ADVANTAGES OF TACTILE GUIDANCE
CoNCLUSION
PAGE
I3
17
2O
26
28
28
29
3O
32
33
37
38
4I
45
49
52
A NEGLECTED SENSE IN
PIANO-PLAYING
Painful Uncertainty of Amateur
Playing
IF we compare the piano-playing of the aver-
age amateur, whatever his degree of skill, with
that of even slightly advanced professionals,
we shall usually find his most serious short-
coming to lie in the uncertainty of his results.
He can never tell how he is going to play.
When “in the mood,” as he calls it, he may
give a satisfactory performance; but at other
times, for little or no reason, confused by the
presence of strangers, by an unfamiliar piano
or chair, or even by a change of furniture or
light arrangement, he will go quite astray,
9
IO A Neglected Sense
stumble helplessly over the keyboard, and end
with the mournful or bitter apology, “I can't
do anything to-day,” or, “I played it perfectly
only this morning.” On the other hand the
professional, though by no means insensible to
upsetting conditions of all sorts, maintains a
certain fairly high standard of efficiency.
Even when he is nervously tired out or physi-
cally ill, he does not, as we say, “go all to
pieces,” but at least gives us the notes with
some accuracy, if unable to infuse much life
into their expression. He may be only medi-
ocre at his best, but he will be tolerable at his
worst. But the amateur, victim of this trying
uncertainty, cannot be relied upon even to play
badly.
Doubtless this uncertainty, which many
fairly good players would agree to be the most
discouraging defect in their playing, is in large
measure simply the result of a lack of routine.
They either do not practice enough, or they
Amateur Playing II
practice fitfully and impatiently. But mere
amount of time spent on work of any kind is
never an index of the degree of success to be
expected; too much practice may dull rather
than sharpen the faculties; and far more fun-
damental than the routine itself are the mental
habits it induces. The more we investigate the
question, the more irresistibly we shall be led
to the conclusion that the superior reliability
of some players depends on their employment,
sometimes consciously, but far oftener uncon-
sciously and instinctively, of a sense which
others neglect. The foundation of accurate
piano-playing, we shall come more and more to
feel, is a sense of touch naturally so delicate
and through training so highly discriminating
that it is capable of guiding the hands and
fingers through the labyrinths of the keyboard
with only slight and casual aid from ears and
eyes. On this tactile sense, rather than on
vision or even on hearing, should the player
I2 A Neglected Sense
chiefly depend. The degree of his dependence
on it will be the measure not only of his accu-
racy, but of other fine qualities of performance
to which we shall later return.
Desirability of Tactile Guidance
It is possible to divide pianists into two
strikingly contrasted types, on the basis of
their neglect or use of this highly important
tactile sense. Painfully familiar is the player
of the first type, the conscientious but im-
properly trained bungler. He is usually rec-
ognizable by his air of having an insecure and
precarious contact with the instrument. He
is apt to sit before it as he might at a table,
and merely tap or strike the keys, instead of
making so firm and yet sensitive a contact
between key and finger-tip that the current of
nerve-force from brain to piano-string has an
unbroken path to travel. He has constantly,
therefore, to guide himself by his sight, and
whenever his eye fails to gauge a distance cor-
rectly, or when it is deceived by unaccustomed
I3
I4 A Neglected Sense
lighting, or when it is detained by attention to
the printed music or to the audience or any
other object, he fumbles the passage, gets con-
fused, and takes perhaps some time to get
placed and started again. He is almost help-
less if he tries to play in the dark; he is sub-
jected to wearisome distractions of attention
whenever he tries to read, because when he
looks at his hands he loses his place and when
he looks at the music he hits the wrong keys;
and even under the best conditions, when he
is playing from memory in a familiar room with
a good light, he is still at a disadvantage, be-
cause he is trying to govern his fingers from a
distance, instead of teaching them to govern
themselves on the spot.
What a contrast is this other, who has de-
veloped his touch-sense to a point at which
he can largely depend upon it! There is an
inimitable ease, fluency, and precision about
his performance. The keyboard is to him a
Desirability of Tactile Guidance 15
pleasure-garden rather than a trackless desert,
because he has taught his mind to go down
into his finger-tips and govern all that they do.
He is nowhere so thoroughly at home as at
the piano. He can give his undivided atten-
tion to the notes if he wishes to read. When
playing from memory he can look at the audi-
ence, if he is a de Pachmann, through the
whole of a piece full of leaps in both hands
if it suit his humor; — or, if he is a Pade-
rewski or a Gabrilowitsch, he may pick out a
blank space of wall or cornice whenever he
wishes to give undivided attention to the noble
musical structure he is building up, undis-
tracted by moving faces or jiggling keys.
The precise degree of dependence thus placed
upon the tactile sense by the great concert
pianists we are apt not to realize, because of
their habit, in the absence of printed music to
look at, of focussing their eyes apparently on
the keyboard. This is, however, largely for
I6 A Neglected Sense
the sake of resting the eyes somewhere, rather
than letting them wander distractedly about;
and the actual vision of the keys is less than we
suppose. On such vision the player depends
but in slight measure. Not only does he fre-
quently look away entirely for long periods,
but he is usually able, if put to the test by
such an accident to the lighting plant of a hall
as has been known to happen, to play on with
perfect ease in the dark. There have been also
many skilled pianists among the blind, who of
course had to depend exclusively on the touch-
sense. If we try to imagine what would be the
effect produced on any pianist, of whatever de-
gree of skill, by injecting an anaesthetic into the
finger-tips and the principal joints of hands
and arms in such a way as to produce anaes-
thesia without impairing the muscular power,
we shall realize at once that no delicacy of
vision would compensate for the lost tactile
guidance.
The Tactile Sense Latent in
all Pianists
THE sense to which the accomplished player
thus entrusts so fundamental a part of his work,
developing it meanwhile, of course, in the ratio
of his dependence upon it, is present also, in
however crude a condition, in the veriest tyro.
All it needs is to be educated, to be drawn
forth and perfected by use. There is hardly
a beginner who, having struck C and E, needs
to look at the keyboard before he can strike G,
or who would hesitate to strike an octave with
his eyes closed. Such simple applications of
the sense as these become automatic in the
earliest days of our piano experience; but un-
fortunately it is so easy to depend on the eyes
when jumps exceeding the hand-reach are ne-
cessary, that our natural laziness leads us to do
17
I8 A Neglected Sense
so, unaware that we are thus leaving an in-
valuable faculty undeveloped. The same re-
sult of indolence is to be seen in players of the
guitar and the banjo, who frequently look at
the frets as they finger. Violin-players, on
the contrary, having no frets to look at, are
obliged from the beginning to depend much
more on the touch-sense, and consequently
often possess it in the highest degree of per-
fection. Similarly, all organ students try, dur-
ing their first lessons, to look at the pedals.
But as in order to do so they have to twist and
turn most inconveniently, and as good teachers
discourage the habit, they soon come to pedal
entirely by feeling, which is, of course, the
only proper way.
Since this paper was begun, the writer has
been much interested to learn that at Teachers'
College, Columbia University, typewriting is
taught by a method similar to that here ad-
vocated for piano-playing. From almost the
Tactile Sense Latent in All I9
very beginning the pupil is prevented from
Seeing the keys by a screen, and thus obliged
to locate them by his tactile sense alone. But
the piano student has no such external safe-
guards against temptation. If he would de-
velop to the utmost this sense so indispensable
to the pianist, he must understand at the out-
Set its importance and its mode of operation,
and study ceaselessly to secure in his practice
conditions favorable io its growth. Thus sub-
stituting for the hit-or-miss way in which it is
acquired, as a by-product and unconsciously,
in the ordinary modes of practicing, a method
which aims at a conscious, regular and progres-
sive development of it, he will find that, spas-
modic and unreliable as it may be at first, it
will gradually assert itself as the one constant,
unfailing guide for all that he has to do.
How it may be Developed
ALTHOUGH we have so far spoken of this
tactile sense as if it were one thing, a little
analysis will show that it is really two. First,
there is the tactile sense proper, the sense of
touch in the finger-tips by which they cease-
lessly explore the keyboard, finding their way
about by observing the landmarks of the black
keys grouped alternately in twos and in threes.
Secondly, there is the sense of space, either
spanned by the fingers or traversed by the
hand, which enables us to measure intervals
without feeling of the keys. This, which we
may call the space-sense, has been explained in
various ways by the psychologists. It seems
to depend on internal sensations of either the
muscles or the surfaces of the joints, probably
the latter (see James's “Psychology,” Chapter
XX), which if carefully observed are capable
2O
How Developed 2I
of giving us remarkably accurate indices of the
movements we make. It is a more subtle
form of the tactile sense, which finds its seat
in the internal articulations of hand and arm
rather than on the surface of the skin.
Both of these elements of what we may still
call, as a whole, the tactile sense are capable of
surprising development through practice under
proper conditions. The most important con-
dition, and at the same time the one hardest
to attain, is mental concentration. Not only
are most students deficient in power of concen-
tration in general, but what they have they are
likely to give rather to more or less mechanical
matters like the position of the hands than to
observing their touch-sensations. This, however,
is the capital matter here. The problem is, not
to hold your fingers, or wrists, or elbows, this
way or that, but to send your mind down into
your finger-tips and joints, to notice each tiniest
impression they receive so accurately that you
22 A Neglected Sense
can reproduce at will the exact motion that
gives rise to it. This requires the closest at-
tention. The reward for giving it is that your
advance becomes both rapid and solid. Fif-
teen minutes of such concentrated attention is
better than days of strumming, for it is by
trained sensitiveness rather than by brute
strength that one becomes a pianist.
A second condition, scarcely less important
than concentration, and of great aid in secur-
ing it, is complete dependence on tactile sen-
sations, to the exclusion of visual ones. As
the invalid cannot gain complete strength until
he throws away his crutches, so the pianist can
perfect his tactile sense only by refusing, at
least temporarily, the aid of his eyes. Neces-
sity is the best teacher; when we are obliged
either to guide ourselves by touch or to strike
the wrong keys, we find our tactile sense put
upon its mettle in a way that develops it sur-
prisingly. Moreover, by eliminating visual im-
How Developed 23
pressions, we avoid a great many breaks in
our attention that would be both mentally con-
fusing to the tactile impressions we wish above
all to make clear, and nervously exhausting
through their constant interruption of our train
of thought. Therefore, it is necessary for the
best results to eliminate vision of the keyboard
during the part of the practice-time specially
devoted to cultivating the tactile sense.
It might be supposed that this could be done
by a simple effort of will; one would simply
resolve to look at the printed music, or at the
ceiling, or anywhere but at the keys. One has
only to try it, however, to find that looking at
the keys from time to time is not a voluntary
act, but an involuntary, automatic habit, so
deeply rooted as to be practically irresistible.
With the best will in the world, one cannot
help giving a quick, surreptitious glance at the
keyboard in an emergency. The best way,
therefore, is to make it impossible to look,
24 A Neglected Sense
either by playing in the dark or, what is better
if one wishes to read music, by placing a screen
between eyes and keyboard. The cover of an
ordinary pasteboard box, such as tailors use
for men's clothing, serves very well. It may
be inserted, if the piano is a grand, under the
music-desk, projecting horizontally toward the
breast of the player and a little further than
the keyboard itself, and will need no further
support. With an upright piano a string or
two will have to be added for security. It
will hide only the four middle octaves, but
that is enough, as the temptation to focus the
eyes on the ends of the keyboard is one that
can be resisted with comparative ease.
The moment the student sits down to the
piano thus provided with a screen, he will find
himself making a new kind of acquaintance
with it, an acquaintance based on a hitherto
neglected sense; and the novelty of the expe-
rience will lend it the fascination of a voyage
How Developed 25
of discovery and adventure. At first, indeed,
he will feel, as we say, “all at sea,” and the
keys may seem a boundless waste, uncharted
and without landmarks. He will soon find,
however, that he has in his space-sense a re-
liable guide, and that the channels are buoyed
quite unmistakably by the black-key groups;
and before he knows it he will be cruising about
with an unwonted and delightful sense of free-
dom.
The Order of Practice
WHEN playing by touch it is, of course, ab-
solutely essential to seat oneself in a definite
and perfectly understood relation to the piano,
so that one has a solid point of departure. To
revert to the figure of the ocean we were just
using, one must be well launched. There are
many possible ways of doing this. A good
way is to feel the left “cheek” or projecting
side of the piano with the left hand, then
swing in the requisite distance to the right to
bring the little finger to the C two octaves
below middle-C. This is done, of course, by
the space-sense, which with a little practice
will accomplish it reliably, especially as all that
is necessary is to get the finger into the “pocket”
between the B flat and the C sharp; the exact
key is then found by the tactile sense of the
little finger itself, pressing against the side of
26
Order of Practice 27
the C sharp. From the C, once found, any other
key may be easily reached by using the space-
sense in the way presently to be described.
Perhaps a still better way to locate oneself is
by means of the pedals, thus: Sit at any ordi-
nary grand piano in such a position that the
group of pedals is directly in front of you,
which may be determined by finding the
damper-pedal with the right foot, and the soft
pedal with the left foot. The left hand rests
on the left knee. Raise it to the keyboard,
moving it the least possible shade to the right.
The fingers will then pass directly into the
middle-C “pocket.”
Before proceeding to play pieces, however,
the student will find it worth while to set aside
a few minutes each day for preliminary exer-
cises of three sorts, intended to cultivate sen-
sitiveness and accuracy in Space-Measurement
by the Hand, Recognition of Keys by Touch,
and Space-Measurement by the Arm.
Space-Measurement by the Hand
THE object of these exercises is to cultivate
the ability to adjust the finger-span to any
desired interval or chord, as accurately and as
quickly as possible.
EXERCISE I
Place the screen well to the right of the
piano, so that the left half of the keyboard,
from middle-C down, is visible. Holding the
right hand in what seems the proper span to
strike an octave with thumb and fifth finger,
bring it to the keyboard, the thumb on mid-
dle-C. Observe by ear whether the upper tone
is right. If not, correct it, notice the exact
sense of stretch in the hand, and repeat. Later,
try the same with thumb and fourth, third
and second fingers successively. In the same
order, strike a seventh; a sixth; a fifth; and
28
Space-Measurement by Hand 29
if the hand is large enough, a ninth and a
tenth.
Smaller intervals, the second, third and
fourth, should be tried in the reverse order of
fingers: that is, beginning with thumb and
second finger; then using successively third,
fourth and fifth fingers.
Shifting the screen to the left half of the
piano, try the same exercises with the left hand.
Beginners, and those who have paid little
attention to their tactile sensations, may have
to play each interval several times, on the
visible half of the board, before they can be
sure of it without seeing it.
It will be noted that this exercise affords an
excellent form of ear-training in addition to
the discipline for which it is primarily devised.
EXERCISE II
After some skill has been attained in the first
exercise, it may be varied by holding the hand
at first not stretched out at the span desired,
3O A Neglected Sense
but with the finger-points lightly touching.
The span is to be adjusted during the brief
time in which the hand passes down to the
keyboard. This affords good discipline in the
quick adjustment of span which is constantly
necessary in actual playing.
EXERCISE III
One may play in the same manner chords of
three, four and five tones. With two screens,
separated by an aperture of about an inch,
through which one can see middle-C or some
other key, one may play chords with both hands.
In this case measurement is made, not only by
the hands individually, but by that space-
sense located in arms and shoulders which
determines the distance between the hands.
There is no need for discouragement if this
develops rather slowly, as in actual playing
it can usually be supplemented by the touch-
sense, exploring the keys and pockets, or else
Space-Measurement by Hand 3I
by a quick contact of the hands which clarifies
the player's sense of his position. The present
exercise is rather an artificially severe one.
Not more than five or ten minutes of the
daily practice need be devoted to these exer-
cises. Their usefulness resides largely in di-
recting the player's attention to hand-span
sensations, which are, of course, present in
all the piano-playing he does.
Recognition of Keys by Touch
THE proper use of the touch-sense located in
the epidermis of the fingers depends not so
much on any extraordinary development of
sensitiveness, such as is found in the blind, as
on a well-founded habit of noticing, distin-
guishing, and being guided by the contacts of
the black-key groups. The player who depends
too much on vision is in large measure una-
ware of these contacts, and must accustom
himself to meet and interpret them; he must
form the habit of constantly exploring the key-
board. To this end one of the first requisites
is relaxation, a muscular and nervous passivity
that leaves the hands free to receive impres-
sions.
Whenever we have to enter an unfamiliar
room without a light we instinctively avoid all
muscular rigidity. With slow steps and grop-
32
Recognition of Keys by Touch 33
ing hands outstretched, we advance tenta-
tively, and in a receptive mood, observant of
the least incoming sensation that shall warn
us of the whereabouts of table or chair, and
save us from bumping our noses or stubbing
our toes. Our study is not to act, but to be
acted upon. If we imitate this attitude in our
piano-playing, we shall find that the keys in-
fluence our fingers as much as our fingers in-
fluence the keys; that, in fact, the only way to
be sure of pressing them effectively is first to
submit to their guiding pressure. Through
such a change of mental attitude from that of
vigorous uncompromising assault which is so
common we shall gain, not only relaxation and
all its attendant benefits, but the invaluable
sense of being at home among the keys.
EXERCISE IV
Removing the screen, close the eyes and place
the hand on the keyboard at random, shaped
to strike an octave, but without actually sound-
34 A Neglected Sense
ing the tones. Let the three unengaged fingers
explore the black keys beneath them until
they recognize a group. It will be found that
usually the easiest way to recognize a group is
by spanning and gently pinching it, so to
speak: if the fingers thus spanning it measure
the interval of a third, it is a two-key group,
C sharp and D sharp; if they measure a fourth,
it is a three-key group, F sharp, G sharp, and
A sharp. Still with the eyes closed, form as vivid
a mental picture as possible of the whole section
of the keyboard under the hand. Having thus
determined what the octave about to be struck
actually is, open the eyes and verify the result.
For example: Placing my right hand at
octave-span on the keyboard, I find that the
second and fourth fingers enter pockets, and
that when the black-key group between them
is measured it proves to be spanned by the
interval of a fourth. At the same time I
notice that from thumb to second finger is a
Recognition of Keys by Touch 35
third, and from fourth to fifth finger also a
third. The mental picture of the keyboard im-
mediately flashes up, and I see my thumb and
fifth finger on D’s, second finger on F, fourth
finger on B. Or again: Placing the left hand
in the same way, I find third and fourth fingers
entering the same pocket. The fourth, explor-
ing to the left, shows there a two-key group;
the second finger finds a three-key group to the
right. In fact, the fourth finger is on an E,
and as the little finger is distant from it a
third, the octave I am holding is that of C.
All this will sound at first highly compli-
cated, and the student may feel that if he were
to crawl about thus on the keyboard in actual
playing he would have to take everything at
snail tempo. He will soon find, however, that
in this exercise he is merely carrying out con-
Sciously a process which he has always used to
Some slight extent and subconsciously, and
that what he is now doing is simply increasing
36 A Neglected Sense
his sensitiveness by sharpening his attention.
The exploration of the keys by the non-playing
fingers will soon become instinctive again, but
with a much higher efficiency than at first.
These ever-active sentries will constantly be
telegraphing to the brain information of their
whereabouts, which will enable it to direct the
playing much more accurately than if it had to
depend on irregular, desultory observations, or
on the eyes.
Space-Measurement by the Arm
WHEN the hand has to rise entirely from the
keyboard, travel to right or left, and descend
again, striking a chord immediately without
any preliminary finger-exploration, it is mak-
ing the most difficult application of the space-
sense that it is ever called upon to make. The
Sensations involved in such an act reside in
elbow and shoulder-joints, and are far less de-
pended upon in ordinary eye-guided piano-
playing than either those of hand-joints or
finger-tips, and consequently less trained to be
serviceable as indices of movement. They are,
however, used to a considerable extent in the
case of the left hand, which is often required to
play waltz accompaniments, and the like, where
the bass notes are at a considerable distance
from the others and have to be taken quickly.
The student will accordingly find that his left
37
38 A Neglected Sense
arm is able to measure accurately much larger
intervals than his right – perhaps as much as
an octave and a half or two octaves — without
any special practice. Such special practice is
far more necessary to the right arm, because the
right hand plays melody nine-tenths of the time,
and melody is made of small intervals manage-
able by hand-span and finger-touch sensations.
EXERCISE W
PLACING the screen over the right half of the
keyboard, leaving middle-C visible, place the
right hand on the chord middle-C, E, G and C.
Passing the whole hand and arm smoothly and
quietly to the right, with little upward motion
away from the keys, strike the same chord just
one octave higher. Repeat several times.
Then strike the chord G, B, D, G, a half-octave
higher still (beginning with the original chord
each time). Finally, find in the same way the
chord C, E, G, C, two octaves above the chord
of departure. The same exercises may be
Space-Measurement by Arm 39
tried with the left hand, but will require much
less practice.
In working out these exercises the student
will be surprised to notice how hard it is for
him to overcome a tendency to feel the keys
before he comes down upon them; in other
words, how instinctive is the use of the finger-
touch-sense as a guide or corrective for wide leaps.
As a matter of fact, there are comparatively
few wide leaps necessary in actual playing that
do not allow of this kind of correction. The
exercise is, therefore, like Exercise III, some-
what artificially difficult. Practically, it will
usually be possible to get some hint of one's
position, after a long leap, from the finger-
sensations, perhaps in the very instant of play-
ing the chord. Nevertheless, this is sometimes
impossible, and the player will find that an
accurate sense of space-measurement by the
arm will give him a freedom and certainty in
playing such modern music as that of Schu-
4O A Neglected Sense
mann, Chopin and Brahms that he can get in
no other way. *
The works of Schumann and Brahms are
especially rich in passages that may be used
for practice in the development of this sense.
The section in E flat towards the end of the
former’s “Faschingsschwank aus Wien,” first
movement, for instance, affords invaluable dis-
cipline in jumps of an octave simultaneously
in both hands; any one who can play this
without errors, with his eyes shut or with the
screen, may feel that he has already acquired a
very respectable command of the arm-space-
sense. The second movement of the Phan-
tasie, opus 17, presents many similar oppor-
tunities. As for Brahms, large leaps are one
of the hall-marks of his style, and almost any
of his pieces will yield passages for this kind of
practice. The Rhapsodie, opus 79, No. 2, and
the Intermezzo, opus II6, No. 4, contain much
interesting crossing of the hands.
Application of the Tactile Sense
in General Practice
THE foregoing exercises are to be considered
as merely preparatory to the daily practice;
their main object is to focus the attention suc-
cessively on the three kinds of sensation that
are involved in a full use of the tactile sense;
once this is accomplished, it will be found that
the general practice of pieces will carry on,
even better than the exercises, the discipline
they have begun. Comparatively little time,
therefore, need be spent on the exercises them-
selves; but the attitude of mind they engender
should be carried through all the other work.
Suppose, for example, you are studying the
Brahms Rhapsodie in G minor just mentioned.
Having adjusted the screen, you take your
seat, find the damper-pedal, and placing the
right hand on the keyboard almost directly
4I
42 A Neglected Sense
above but the least bit to the left, find the two-
key group near middle-C. This gives the D
for the right hand. It will then be found that
the left hand has instinctively found its low
octave D. How? It is hard to analyze the
process exactly. The space-measurement sense
seems to direct it to approximately the right
place, and perhaps the fourth finger guides
the others to their exact spots by feeling the
E flat.
The left hand will find much difficulty at
first in striking its G and B flat in the treble.
A few trials, however, will show how it can
guide itself, first by resting lightly on the
right, which will thus serve as a fixed land-
mark, second by feeling the pocket just to the
left of the three-black-key group.
The next difficulty will be the jump in the
left hand from low octave A up to octave C,
which will seem very risky at first. The hand
must be carried up to about the right place by
Application in General Practice 43
arm-measurement, then the little finger will be
guided into the exact spot by feeling the
projecting black key, C sharp. In all similar
cases it will be found that the space-sense of
the arm and the touch-sense of the fingers thus
coöperate.
Look, for instance, at the thirteenth measure.
The right hand, after the chord with the hold,
has to rise an octave and a half, and take the
high A's of the new melody. The arm-space-
sense working alone could, perhaps, hardly find
this new position with the requisite certainty.
But the fingers are all alert, and the middle
finger has but to find the pocket between D
sharp and F sharp to start the hand off with
perfect confidence. The quick octave-jumps in
the left hand, in this same measure, are far
more troublesome. Here the arm-space-sense
has to work practically unaided. A tendency
will probably be noticed at first to jump too
far, but practice will correct this.
44 A Neglected Sense
Thus the student will find at every turn, in
whatever piece he may be playing, opportu-
nities to test and develop his power to feel his
way about the keyboard.
Concentration-Exercises on the
Soundless Clavier
IT will have become increasingly evident
from all that has been said, that for the full
use of the tactile sense in piano-playing a rare
degree of mental concentration is necessary.
One cannot pursue such studies as have been
here suggested with a listless, wandering, or
preoccupied mind. Indeed, in this very fact
lies one of the prime virtues of such a method
of practice. Too many of the ordinary exer-
cises in daily use by thousands of piano-
students permit or even encourage by their
deadly monotony a half comatose mental con-
dition, and depend entirely for their effect on
the mere mechanical repetition of certain bodily
movements. All genuine physical dexterity,
however, depends on mental coördination; and
it is, therefore, a pitiful waste of time and
45
46 A Neglected Sense
energy to try to acquire by routine repetition
what could be acquired so much more quickly
and so much better by intelligent effort guided
by rightly directed attention. Not the least
valuable feature, then, of piano study governed
by the thought of developing the tactile sense
will be the alertness of mind it requires by its
procedure and encourages by its interest.
The concentration of attention on tactile
sensations which is attained by the use of the
screen, cutting off as it does the visual sensa-
tions, which might prove distracting, may for
short periods of practice be still further en-
hanced by cutting off also the audible impres-
sions, that is, the sounds. This is accomplished
by using a practice clavier, or “dumb piano,”
in place of the ordinary instrument. Pro-
vided with the screen, it affords us a means of
training the sense of touch, absolutely undis-
tracted and unaided by any other impressions,
either of sound or of sight. It is piano-playing
Exercises on Soundless Clavier 47
by the touch-sense reduced, so to speak, to its
lowest terms, or in its most stringent form.
The player now has to depend on the touch,
not only to guide him to the key he is to strike,
but to pronounce as to its correctness after he
has struck it; the touch-sense is both per-
former and, in the absence of the ear, critic.
Great delicacy and certainty are therefore
needed, and the beginner will find himself
often mistaking a three-key group for a two-key
group, and thus confusing, for instance, C and
F, or B flat and E flat; but with persistence he
will gradually gain skill and confidence. Prac-
tice on the soundless keyboard should never
entirely replace that with the ordinary instru-
ment. It would make too severe demands on
the attention, and it might injure the tone-
quality of the playing. But it is a form of
intensive cultivation of the tactile sense which,
used in moderation, has a quite unique value
for the ambitious student. At present the
48 A Neglected Sense
Soundless clavier is obtainable only as an in-
strument separate from the piano. If the
value of this method of practice becomes
widely recognized, however, it is to be hoped
that piano-manufacturers may introduce some
device by which the connection between the
keys and hammers may be cut off at will.
The ordinary piano will then become available
for this kind of practice.
In order to treat fully the importance of
mental concentration to the student, and the
best methods of cultivating it, a separate article
would be necessary. For the present it must
suffice to point out that the elimination of im-
pressions of both sound and sight secures neces-
sarily a remarkable degree of concentration
upon touch sensations.
Secondary Advantages of Tactile
Guidance
So far we have been insisting chiefly on the
desirability of the systematic use of the touch-
sense on account of the certainty and relia-
bility it gives to the playing. No one who has
had any experience of playing in public will be
likely to underrate its value on this score alone.
How distressing it is to practice conscientiously
for weeks, get a piece going faultlessly, and then
at the performance to which all this prepara-
tion has led up, distracted by strange lights
and faces, play it worse than you did at the
beginning! Yet this is what is always likely
to befall any one who depends on his con-
scious will and on his fallible and easily de-
ceived eyes for guidance, who does not train
his touch to guide him with the certainty of
instinct through the labyrinths. If only for
49
5o A Neglected Sense
accuracy of performance, it is well worth every
pianist's while to develop his tactile sense to
the utmost.
But there are several secondary advantages
which he will be pleased to find attending on
the development of this so often neglected
sense. These may be suggested in closing.
The first is relaxation. We hear much of the
value of relaxation to the pianist, and some-
times we see pathetic efforts made, with
clenched fists and gritted teeth, to attain it.
But the best way to get it is to forget about
ourselves and our hands, wrists, fingers, mus-
cles, and nerves, and to cultivate a mood of
curiosity about what comes into the mind from
outside, a recipient, a passive mood. This is
precisely what happens when we think about
our tactile sensations, about what the keys do
to us rather than what we do to them. The
exploring hand is necessarily limp. To tighten
up the muscles is to cut off the sensations. The
Secondary Advantages SI
habit of tactile observation, in short, is the
habit of relaxation.
A second advantage is good tone. In recent
years it has become more and more widely
preached and recognized that pressure-touch
(weight-touch) produces a mellow, agreeable
tone, while striking produces a jangle of high,
dissonant partial tones. Now, the way to pro-
duce the pressure-touch is to keep the fingers
close to the keys; and the way to form the
habit of keeping the fingers in contact with the
keys is to practice with the attention directed
to the tactile sensations. The kind of practice
here recommended, therefore, is fundamentally
suited to call into play the pressure-touch which
produces good tone.
Finally, speed in execution is well known to
bear a direct relation to economy of move-
ment. Every waste motion of hand or arm
means delay; in the glissando the finger never
leaves the keys at all, and the glissando is in
52 A Neglected Sense
this respect the archetype toward which all
rapid fingered scales aspire. But what other
mode of practice could so constantly foster the
habit of preserving contact with the keys, and
thus of dispensing with useless movement, as
this which is based on the idea of feeling of
the keys? Thus speed will be another of its
by-products.
In conclusion, those readers who still remain
skeptical may be assured that this method of
practice is not advanced as a cure-all, a uni-
versal nostrum which will turn the strummer
into the artist. All that is claimed for the
tactile sense is, that it is obviously depended on
very largely by the great concert pianists, that
psychology shows why it should be in many
ways a more reliable guide to pianists than the
eyes, and that a personal trial will in a few
weeks enable any one to do, with its help,
things that he could never do without it.
Conclusion 53
Whoever perseveres in such a test until he has
got past the paralysis that attends the first
use of a neglected sense will, it is believed, con-
tinue thereafter with enthusiasm on his own
aCCount.
DATE DUE
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