Arm Weight and Voicing of Chords

[seizefate09]

I would like to hear everyone's advice about how to voice chords well.  I have always been very bad at it and feel that it is making my playing very weak.  For example, in Schubert's Sonata D. 664 How do you channel enough weight into your pinky that you are able to make the melody clear and not get lost in all of the chords?

Thanks

[infectedmushroom]

Good question!


I can't give you any good advice though. It's very difficult, that's for sure. Also, I think it really matters on what kind of piano you're playing on. On some piano's, it's easier to do, but on some piano's it feels impossible to do.

In the example you give: maybe put more strenght and pressure into your pinky, compared to your other fingers...

[mike_lang]

Excellent question - I believe there are several ways to think about it.

I was taught to allow the voicing finger to strike a nanosecond before the others, which makes perfect sense if we consider volume to depend partially on attack speed.  There is a danger, however, with this thinking, of ending up with a noticeable gap between the voiced note and the rest of the chord.  Therefore, the way my teacher put it to me, when this would happen at first, was: "Don't give away the trick!"

I also attach an article concerning Horowitz' method of voicing.

Best,
Michael Langlois

[counterpoint]

When playing Schubert, it's often better to think of throwing the hand at the keys (and keep the arm in his position) than to let the hand sink in the keys by the arm's weight. This gets a lighter touch and more ease for repeated piano or pianissimo chords.
In general Schubert is the composer with the light arms, Brahms needs the heavy weighted arms. But of course, sometimes Brahms needs light arms as well as Schubert needs the heavy ones, see the "Wanderer Fantasie". 


EDIT: 10 Nov 2007

I just found out, that Brahms is played much better and much more comfortable with light arms! 

[pianovirus]

I sometimes do the following: repeatedly play a chord, e.g. C-E-G-C, and try to emphasize first the lowest note, then the second-lowest, and so on.

A variation of this exercise that I sometimes do is based on the hypothesis that proper and clear voicing ultimately has to come from the fingers (and without involvement of other body parts, e.g. wrist, which I think more of helping in determining the overall quality of the sound produced but not the fine voicing). Actually I'm not sure if this is oversimplified or even wrong, and would be interested in other people's opinions.
In any case, what I do is to hold the wrist of one arm fixed with the other arm, so that only finger movement can produce a tone. Then I start with single notes, anticipate the sound I want and try to "feel" the hammer action very well (e.g. sometimes not pressing the key to the bottom for example). Then I go on to pairs or triplets of notes, again first anticipate the intended sound and also the voicing, and try to preserve the feeling for the individual key weights. Definitely, the goal should be to able to bring out one voice _without_ a gap. Otherwise, polyphonic playing would be nothing than a series of arpeggiated chords....     I'd recommend not thinking too much about finger velocities or different starting times -- I guess you'd become crazy without gaining much success. It's more about the right key weight feeling, mental tone anticipation, and ear control after playing, and the rest should come somehow intuitive and subconsciously like learning how to bike or other things. But again, I'm not sure if this is good exercise and would like to hear from others as well.

[mike_lang]

I sometimes do the following: repeatedly play a chord, e.g. C-E-G-C, and try to emphasize first the lowest note, then the second-lowest, and so on.

Good exercise - my teacher asked a variant of it: every week along with our scales, arpeggi, octaves, etc., he asked for voiced 7th chords (V of the scale key, all inversions, two octaves up and down, HS).  Very helpful for practicing if you know how to voice.

[mcgillcomposer]

I would like to hear everyone's advice about how to voice chords well.  I have always been very bad at it and feel that it is making my playing very weak.  For example, in Schubert's Sonata D. 664 How do you channel enough weight into your pinky that you are able to make the melody clear and not get lost in all of the chords?

Thanks

It has more to do with the alignment of the arm - what people call 'weight' is actually the distribution of force ... you can change how the force is distributed using different alignments - it's as simple as that...no fancy techniques are needed - it's simple science.

[diminished2nd]

I'm not sure about the "right" way to do it, but I find that once I'm completely relaxed (EVERY muscle in my arm/hand) it becomes very easy to voice.

I also sometimes practice the way pianovirus does: Taking whatever chord you're working on, and voice each note individually.

[kriskicksass]

Strike the chord quickly and with quite a bit of force, and then let go of all the fingers except the one you want voiced out. This is a great trick I use for voicing. I hope I explained it well enough.

[mcgillcomposer]

Strike the chord quickly and with quite a bit of force, and then let go of all the fingers except the one you want voiced out. This is a great trick I use for voicing. I hope I explained it well enough.

Once the chord is struck there is nothing you can do to change the sound - could you explain a bit better? I am interested.

[mcgillcomposer]

Evidently, fatter people can voice chords more easily - they have more arm weight...

[soliloquy]

Improvise regularly.  Try imitating Scriabin.

[lostinidlewonder]

To increase the strength of the pinky dont play with the pinky but imagine that the the entire side of your hand which your pinky is attached to gives more weight to your little finger when it plays. This promotes a more flattened hand posture. It is that visualisation which will make the 5th louder than the rest. Discussing techinque in words is 100 times harder than demonstrating it physically.

When playing Schubert I was always told to over do the melodic lines. That is play them as loud as I possibly could while everything else is kept controlled. It feels strange and sounds funny but it definately helps when you then go back to normal playing.

[thalberg]

My trick is this:  You have to hear the right sound in your head.  If you hear what a voiced chord sounds like, and really concentrate on it, your fingers will do it.  Fingers obey the ears.  They really do.  That's how I learned to voice. 

Everyone else's thoughts are valid, too, this is just one contribution.

[kriskicksass]

Once the chord is struck there is nothing you can do to change the sound - could you explain a bit better? I am interested.

This has nothing to do with changing the sound of the chord. All it does is make you very aware of the finger you're trying to voice. This very quickly teaches you to parcel out the information you're sending to your hand and have one finger play more loudly than the others.

You may also want to think of it as playing the voiced finger portamento and all the other fingers staccatissimo. 

[mcgillcomposer]

This has nothing to do with changing the sound of the chord. All it does is make you very aware of the finger you're trying to voice. This very quickly teaches you to parcel out the information you're sending to your hand and have one finger play more loudly than the others.

You may also want to think of it as playing the voiced finger portamento and all the other fingers staccatissimo. 

OK - so it is something that you train yourself to be aware of prior to striking the chord - I understand now. Thanks.