Finger Tapping - Glenn Gould

[madsfr1234]

How do you learn Finger Tapping? And What is the technique, i really want to learn it!
And what does it help for?

Thanks

[thierry13]

what?

[ramseytheii]

Here is an excerpt from the most recent biography of Gould, Kevin Bazzana's "Wondrous, Strange."  The context is a discussion of Gould's early training under his teacher, Alberto Guerrero.

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"The most curious of the exercises was 'tapping,' which helped to develop what Ortmann had called 'pure finger-technique' and enhance the ease, evenness, and clarity of touch.  As Beckwith described it, tapping 'consisted of playing the music for each hand separately, very slowly, but making the sound by tapping each finger with the non-playing hand.  One learned from this how very precise and economical the muscle-movements needed for fast playing really could be.'  (The fingers being tapped are placed in the correct position at the keyboard, resting on but not depressing the keys, and the fingers are tapped at the tips.)  This would be followed by slow, staccato practice before the piece was brought up to tempo.  As a result, the brain learned what was required in order to play in a relaxed manner with the fingers alone doing the work.

According to Dudley, Gould 'had been tapping everything' under Guerrero, and Gould admitted that, when making his famouis 1955 recording the Goldberg Variations, he tapped each variation before recording it - a rpcocess that took altogether about thirty-two hours. "

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Walter Ramsey

[jabbz]

Yeah, but does it work? 

[Petter]

Yeah, but does it work? 

try 

[keypeg]

I seem to understand what he is saying something like this: We use way too many muscles and way too much effort when we play and this creates tension and negates economy of movement.  If you tap your finger down with the other hand, you will experience what needs to move, and can physically compare the difference between the few muscles/tendons being used and the many you usually use.  Theoretically that would educate the body in a kind of biofeedback way.  I haven't tried it, but I can picture it.

[ganymed]

can anyone explain the method of finger tapping again . My english is not that good thats why i couldnt get everything ramsey said.

Thank you

[pailo]

How do you tap chords???

[ramseytheii]

How do you tap chords???

You could tap chords, easily enough, but my understanding of it is that Gould used this technique mainly for independent voice lines in Bach's music.  In the Goldberg variations, for instance, there are hardly any "chords" per se.

Walter Ramsey

[thierry13]

How do you tap chords???

Hrm. Do you play chords with finger movement  I sure hope not ...

[ramseytheii]

Hrm. Do you play chords with finger movement  I sure hope not ...

If my memory serves, the most conspicuous chords in the Goldbergs (Variation #16) Gould rolled, but in any cases, there are the chords in variation #29 that he definitely didn't roll.  If he finger-tapped them at all, he probably pushed his finger tips forward rather than just "down."

Personally I don't think this practice technique is all that interesting.  What's interesting is that he obviously developed himself as an artist, by sitting for hours at a time, trying to find the maximum result for the minimum effort.  It happened that he organized his physical approach through this method of finger-tapping, but I would counter that his achivement was rather a success of his insanely obsessive mentality, rather than the method itself.

It's my point of view, though, that exercises in themselves are only useful insomuch as you put your concentration into it.  In that sense, exercises are not particularly beneficial, because you can also achieve leaps in strides in your technique from condensed concentration on passages from the repertoire; therefore, don't take a lot of time playing exercises, unless you are obsessed with a specific thing.

Walter Ramsey

[thierry13]

If my memory serves, the most conspicuous chords in the Goldbergs (Variation #16) Gould rolled, but in any cases, there are the chords in variation #29 that he definitely didn't roll.  If he finger-tapped them at all, he probably pushed his finger tips forward rather than just "down."

Personally I don't think this practice technique is all that interesting.  What's interesting is that he obviously developed himself as an artist, by sitting for hours at a time, trying to find the maximum result for the minimum effort.  It happened that he organized his physical approach through this method of finger-tapping, but I would counter that his achivement was rather a success of his insanely obsessive mentality, rather than the method itself.

It's my point of view, though, that exercises in themselves are only useful insomuch as you put your concentration into it.  In that sense, exercises are not particularly beneficial, because you can also achieve leaps in strides in your technique from condensed concentration on passages from the repertoire; therefore, don't take a lot of time playing exercises, unless you are obsessed with a specific thing.

Walter Ramsey

To tap down chords, I would either push all the fingers at once with one finger from the opposite hand for each finger of the playing hand, OR, point the fingers firmly and push on the arm/elbow/shoulder to produce the sound. Seeing gould play, I would say tap on the elbow.

[pailo]

Great answers, thanks ramseytheii and thierry13!

[richy321]

Somewhere (I just looked it up: it's in Alan Fraser's book The Craft of Piano Playing, Chapter 24) I read that the idea came from the method used to train a young Chinese acrobat, where the boy was put through the intricate movements by the trainer while remaining quite relaxed and passive.  This is by far the most complete account of the finger-tapping method that I have seen.  I recommend it if you are interested.

I am not myself convinced that it is a practical method at the finger level, but I can say that at the forearm level (the teacher taking the relaxed arm through the motions) it can be a revelation.  It is amazing how easy a passage can become, when the teacher guides the forearm, while the fingers do their usual thing.  So I think there is something to the method, but I just can't see how it would be practical in learning anything but the slowest music at the finger level.

Richy

[slobone]

Yeah, but does it work? 

Are you asking if Glenn Gould's piano technique was good enough?

[keypeg]

I played with this just a little bit.  For some simple things I was playing I rested my hand an the keys and then tapped down the fingertip.  Then I played and I was using less effort and less muscles (ligaments?) than before, and seemed to catch areas I had been tensing up that did not need it.

[jabbz]

Are you asking if Glenn Gould's piano technique was good enough?

No, but it would be senseless to attribute Gould's technique 100% to a single technique, when many other concert pianists have a technique equal to or greater than Gould - and they probably have never experimented with tapping ever.


(That and I thought the humor suggested in my post was obvious, apparently not!)

[green]

I seem to understand what he is saying something like this: We use way too many muscles and way too much effort when we play and this creates tension and negates economy of movement.  If you tap your finger down with the other hand, you will experience what needs to move, and can physically compare the difference between the few muscles/tendons being used and the many you usually use.  Theoretically that would educate the body in a kind of biofeedback way.  I haven't tried it, but I can picture it.

This is excellent! I learned finger-tapping from my teacher, and 'silent practice'. These were two of the most powerful methods of practice, for any piece, that I have ever learned or experienced.