Playing pianissimo~~Help me!

[pianobabe_56]

For just about all 7 years that I've been learning piano, I've been plagued with not being able to get out a nice, even pianissimo. Notes in the phrase alternate, and occasionaly my control slips and I bang one of the notes! It's extremely frustrating. Sometimes, during louder passages, notes won't come out, either. Somehow I think the two are related, but any advice I could get on either would be very much appreciated.

[faulty_damper]

It may be the piano, not you.  If your piano is not maintained properly, assuming it is an excellent piano, then many things will suffer, most notably, the pianist.

If it's not the piano, the it must be the pianist.  There are different kinds of touch that will produce different sounds.  From what you describe - losing control, slipping - this may very well be the case.  The touch to play pianissimo is different from playing piano, which is different from playing loudly.

By touch, I do not mean the force exerted, but how it is exerted.

Out of curiosity, what technique do you use to play scales?  Do your fingers curl when playing the black keys as you would the whites?  Knowing this might help.

[xvimbi]

Pianissimo is relative to whatever else is going on in the piece. 'pp' on a Steinway Model D at Carnegie Hall will be different than 'pp' on a Boesie 214 in a living room. Simply define pianissimo as the softest level you can manage reliably, and that is appropriate for the venue (so that the people in the last row can still here the sound), and adjust all p, f, and ff sections accordingly.

[jeremyjchilds]

I agree that it could be your piano. I was renting a ritmuller for a while. It had two dynamic ranges...kinda soft and kinda loud...nightmare.

I bought a Seiler because I could get a true piano from it...

Note that your piano may need some repairs...Key weight, Key bushings, Centerpins, Hammer spacing, regulation, or voicing may be out of whack. talk to your tech, or I can direct you on how to find the problem.

Although if your piano is fine, then Yes, you do need to develop a better technique. I always try to get the best instrument first, though so we can compare apples to apples.

[grazioso]

Several books have useful exercises for deveoping tonal variances. Mainy just involve playing chords or single notes at varying volumes and learning to control the dynamics and tone by learning the whole range.

It is good to sometimes see how quietly you can play.

[pianobabe_56]

My piano does have very stiff keys, but whenever I play on other pianos (Baldwin, Kawai, Steinway, and iBach are the most common) the same thing occurs. We had our piano tuned up recently, and it played beautifully, but I still struggle with getting enough weight into the keys and maintaining a pianissimo, or any real degree of softness, for that matter, without 'cheating' and using the soft pedal. I'd really like more control.

It may be the piano, not you. If your piano is not maintained properly, assuming it is an excellent piano, then many things will suffer, most notably, the pianist.

If it's not the piano, the it must be the pianist. There are different kinds of touch that will produce different sounds. From what you describe - losing control, slipping - this may very well be the case. The touch to play pianissimo is different from playing piano, which is different from playing loudly.

By touch, I do not mean the force exerted, but how it is exerted.

Out of curiosity, what technique do you use to play scales? Do your fingers curl when playing the black keys as you would the whites? Knowing this might help.

When I play scales, I try to keep my fingers relatively curved on the white keys, but I flatten them out more as I reach for the black keys.

[6ft 4]

You drink some rich magic potion and miraculously you can play all pianissimo to perfection!

And then you play hide and seek with some big teddy bears in fluffy fluffy land.

teedee tadee tee.


 

[shoshin]

Like someone said it may be your piano. Some pianos have action that isn't so good. Its easy for me on my Bosendorfer. What kindof piano are you using?

[musik_man]

I don't think there are really any shortcuts for this problem.  I had/have it myself(actually mine was more like not pressing the key hard enough to get any sound).  Just focus on playing through your pieces as softly as you can.  Eventually you'll get a better idea of how much force you need to play pp.

[whynot]

I do two things.  For scales and passages, I play what I think of as half-key:  to find this, I first play loudly, firmly down into the keybed.  Then I play again, trying to go down only half as far.  It isn't really halfway, of course! or the notes wouldn't speak, but if I think halfway or shallow, or playing at the top of the keys rather than the bottom, or "across the keys", I can find the sound I want very consistently.  For soft chords, my hand is firm and "grabbing" the keys, not soft feeling or using relaxed weight or dropping into the keys.  Maybe these would work for you.  Good luck! 

[grazioso]

thats an interesting approach. Is it difficult to get some notes to speak though??

[alzado]

The markings for piano and forte are relative.   As far as I know, there is no absolute standard.

One poster on this or on a similar forum wanted to "quantify" these notations so that P or PP or PPP would have a measurable loudness.

To me, this is being a "literalist of the imagination," as Blake would have said.

I'm not sure there's any measure or standard as to how soft pianissimo must be. 

If I heard you play, whether you attained the "perfect pianissimo" you seek or not, I am sure the piano would be quieter in P than in F.   

Perhaps you are worrying too much about what is really not an earthshaking issue.

I do wish you well in your piano studies--

[pianobabe_56]

I understand that dynamics are relative--I guess that I'm really targeting a lack of control, and my ability to play pianissimos is where that lack of control shows the most.

whynot--thank you very much for your suggestions! I used that "grabbing the keys" technique you spoke of, and was very pleased with the results!

[whynot]

I think I got that from "Great Pianists and their techniques" years ago.  I could always play soft in kind of a generic way, but not with any nuance because I couldn't control it.  So I find it really helpful.  Anyway, best wishes!