Voicing Chords - Any tips on practicing this?

[atticus]

Hi All,

Just wondering if you have any tips on how to practice "bringing out the tops" of chords?  In most cases, it's the note played by the 5th finger that I want to bring out but it's tough to do this by rotation if the thumb is playing a note in the chord also...

Thanks,
atticus

[dan101]

Rotation is still necessary for me, even when the thumb is being employed. Your fifth finger knuckle joint may collapse slightly, but at least you will get a fuller sound on top, while preserving the loosness in your wrist. Good luck.

[guendola]

This is all about single finger control. You can separate the chords, first play the upper note loud, then the other notes lower.

You should also practise playing with single fingers - not using any wrist or arm action.
Put all fingers on the keys, make sure, they have contact, play with each finger, making sure the others remain on the keys and are relaxed. If you are clever, you can make up some patterns that you can play with both hands in all keys, and change the dynamics. Play it in p, mf and f.

Then you practise playing with single fingers while the others are holding the keys down (and are as relaxed as possible). You can also do this with only one, two or three fingers holding down keys, while the other fingers are playing their keys. Play it in p, mf and f as well.

Finally, make sure you know what you want to hear when playing chords with specific voicing. It helps to play the chords with two hands - one plays the accent, the other the remaining notes - especially if you want to play chords AND a melody in a single hand. What you hear with two hands becomes the model to aim for with one hand. Don't reduce that to playing the upper note louder, do that with all notes of the chords. Playing chords that way isn't usual but you will have pieces with melodies embedded in chords where this will be a good preparation.

Attention (see next post by Dan101): "No wrist or arm action" applies to these exercises only, not to normal playing!

[dan101]

The problem with using no wrist is that you generally have to raise your finger and strike the key in order to get the desired power and/or voicing. Wrist movement allows one to play from the surface of the key, thus producing a more musical touch (i.e. there's no thud from the finger's striking of the key's surface).

Having said that, attacking the piano with a stiff wrist is not unheard of. Some pianists find this type of touch useful in Bartok's music, for example.

[guendola]

The problem with using no wrist is that you generally have to raise your finger and strike the key in order to get the desired power and/or voicing. Wrist movement allows one to play from the surface of the key, thus producing a more musical touch (i.e. there's no thud from the finger's striking of the key's surface).

Having said that, attacking the piano with a stiff wrist is not unheard of. Some pianists find this type of touch useful in Bartok's music, for example.

I absolutely agree, a stiff wrist is no good for playing. But in this special case it is about practising and getting a feel for each individual finger, so you will be able to use different attack with each finger. So when playing chords, unstiffen your wrist first!

An alternative dirty solution: Stiffen the finger that is supposed to play a bit louder and tilt the hand a bit towards that finger. But expect your teacher to frown (and I might have to duck right now!).

[thalberg]

My opinion on this is that you simply need to hear the voiced sound in your mind's ear.  If you hear the sound, your fingers will do it.  You have to concentrate intensely at first to make your fingers follow your ears, but they will indeed do so.

[atticus]

Dan101, guendola, and thalberg:

Thanks for the responses.  I can hear the sound I want to produce in my mind so I will try the tips you suggested.  Thanks for taking the time to respond!

atticus