Having trouble playing chords softly

[justliam]

when I have to play chords quietly I have trouble playing all the notes simultanously, and it ruins the mood playing a chord all broken in a soft passage, so I was just wondering if anyone knows of ay excercises or ways to over come this.  Is it just bad hand position perhaps? Anyone else experienced this? Thanks

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

Yes, I know what you mean. I am playing Schubert's impromptu 4 right now, and in the trio sections one needs to search for the sound in the chords. Hand position is important. Make sure that your wrist are down and knucles supporting the fingers. Make sure that the fingers aren't flat. In order to be able to play softly a chord, first, dissect it. Play the lowest note of the chord only, in such a way that the key once depressed doesn't fully come back. Never let go of the key with the finger and as soon as it comes up, without fully doing so, depress it again, but make sure the sound is even. Then add another note of the chord. Make sure that the interval has no prevailing notes and that both notes are even. Then add more notes until the chord is gathered. Concerning the hand motion, the elbow needs not sack, but be sort of lifted to ensure good hand actions. With your arm, kind of make a slight pushing notion, as though you were shaking off drops of water without using the hand, but the arm. A slight pushing notion. That way, the arm supports the chords too. I hope that what I wrote made sense.

[pianistimo]

lightly rest all ur fingertips on the notes of the chord and let ur hand/wrist come down (as the blade of a papercutter).  this is another technique that is much different than using finger pressure - per se.  it takes some getting used to - because most of us were used to learning the other way.  but, you can also get a soft sound this way with practice.  the less peripheral 'noise' you make (by hitting keys) the better the actual sound that will come out. once in a while - if a note doesn't sound - you fidgit with the center of ur hand position and not so much the individual fingers.

ps  this way - you have less tension than the second way.  ur hand is playing with natural weight and just letting it drop (not from a high position - but a very low one).  you can feel the natural weight of ur hand (not sure how many lbs a hand weighs - but it is definately enough weight to make double-forte to pianissimo dynamics) by just holding it up in ur other hand and letting ur arm and hand play 'dead weight.'

[bella musica]

I find that it helps to think of it as playing the chord with your arm, not with your fingers, i.e. think of the chord as a unit, not as a bunch of separate notes all being played at once.  It is easy enough to play one note softly with one finger, so think of the chord as the note and your arm as the finger, if you understand what I mean... 

Also remember to still let the melody note sing out!