what is technique?

[ryanyee]

yeah im kinda horrible at this technique stuff and would like to know what it actually means. how do you train ur technique? by playing etudes? isn there any other ways of improving on technique than just etudes?

[xpjamiexd]

By definition: A technique is a procedure used to accomplish a specific activity or task.

Good technique will enable you to control the piano to your desire, whether that be soft/loud legato/staccato etc. also it will add to your ability to play more comlex and technically demanding songs that may require large scales, jumps in ocatves or even just a very soft touch. To answer your other question no IMO etudes don't give technique they mearly make you practice it. Basic scales and arpeggios are usually used to practice technique. The better your technique and the more control you gain the harder the scales and arpeggios become. I'm no expert someone else can probably explain this much better.

[ryanyee]

well thanks for ur advice. at least i understand a little bit more about what this technique thing is all about.

[Bob]

Usually I think people mean being physically able to do something.  Like finger technique meaning able to play fast or articulately.  Octave technique, playing octaves fast.

More like machinery.  If someone says so-and-so has good technique, they mean they have the physical ability to do something well.  They're not getting held back by not being able to play fast enough or quiet enough.  And they can do those things with ease too.  They're comfortable with it.  It's not an issue.

It could be an insult too if someone says so-and-so's playing is very technical.  Not expressive, but technical.  Just a machine. 


Training technique?  I made up my own daily routine of things to do.  That's worked for me, but it's not a piano thing.  Pianists seems to get technique by playing pieces.  Although... I think that really means 'using' a piece of music as a vehicle to develop physically.  Not necessarily performing the piece well in the end.  You play an etude, maybe badly, but you get scales or octaves faster.  You've developed technique that way.  Do that with enough pieces, and after awhile you've developed that technique and can play those pieces at a performance level.

Personally, I see technique as anything involved in getting you to the end goal.  Physical technique, mental technique... like reading, understanding, emotional technique... like being able to feel the piece or know what the character of that section is and knowing if that's getting across in the sound.

[richy321]

The better your technique and the more control you gain the harder the scales and arpeggios become.

Surely the opposite is true.  Once a technique has been mastered, the playing of that particular type of writing should become effortless.  That's the whole point of technique.

I agree that the mere attempting of etudes does not give one technique.  You need instruction as to HOW to play that passage, in terms of both physical and mental activity.  Only a good teacher can provide this.

[tds]

Surely the opposite is true.  Once a technique has been mastered, the playing of that particular type of writing should become effortless.  That's the whole point of technique.

I agree that the mere attempting of etudes does not give one technique.  You need instruction as to HOW to play that passage, in terms of both physical and mental activity.  Only a good teacher can provide this.

THIS is a good post. thanks, richy321.

[oscarr111111]

Surely the opposite is true.  Once a technique has been mastered, the playing of that particular type of writing should become effortless.  That's the whole point of technique.

I agree that the mere attempting of etudes does not give one technique.  You need instruction as to HOW to play that passage, in terms of both physical and mental activity.  Only a good teacher can provide this.

Most of the worlds best known virtuoso players of any instrument were self taught, piano included.  Theres nothing wrong with having a teacher as such, but being over-educated in music can make you into a competent yet entirely forgettable clone.

[richy321]

Most of the worlds best known virtuoso players of any instrument were self taught, piano included.

Where did you get that (mis)information?  Name a few.  Even phenomenal prodigies like Mozart, Liszt and Saint-Saens were not self-taught, and they turned out to be anything but clones.  But we're obviously not talking about prodigies, for whom the question of technique should not even arise. 

Some people seem to have an irrational aversion to learning from an expert.  I think it has to do with narcissism: they must believe that they are just as talented and smart as anyone else, so  they can figure it out for themself, thank you.  To submit to instruction is an admission of inferiority, so they plod on, quite aimlessly.  If this attitude were really widespread in any field, our culture would never have developed to the point it has, and we'd be still in the Stone Age.  Pianistically, to judge from some of these posts, some people are.

 

[oscarr111111]

Simmer down.  Firstly I specifically said "any instrument" and purposefully didn't mention a genre, I definitely didn't say 'classical pianists' which is all you seem to have mentioned in your post.  Secondly I said 'most', the 3 classical pianists you listed do not class as 'most musicians'.  thirdly, your second paragraph is nonsense, you started off on a rant of apparent self-justification then in the next sentence related back to your first sentence as fact (not to mention the other 'facts' you've included).

Sorry, but if someone doesn't have the intelligence and will to master an instrument without a teacher, they don't have the means to master it with a teacher either.  A teacher just makes things easier, easy enough for someone who wouldn't have a hope of learning alone to achieve a level of proficiency.

By this logic, its obvious that there will be a much higher percent of truly 'gifted' professional musicians coming from a self-taught background, whereas the great educated musicians will be diluted in a mass of competent clones trained to sound like everyone who came before them and taught never to step out of the box.  On top of this, the self taught approach is by far more synergistic to the development of creativity, originality and innovation.

[dan101]

A simple answer is that technique is a means to an end, the end being an wonderfully effortless and emotional performance. Having said that, the means is complex and consists of many different components. That's where a good teacher and years of training come in. Enjoy the journey.

[ryanyee]

so if i want to improve on all those technique stuff, should i play hanon, the pischna or etudes, preludes? or everything?

[richy321]

Oscar,

I can see that much of our disagreement is due to the fact that you are coming from the jazz/improvisation genre, whereas this discussion was originally from a classical piano frame of reference. 

However, I want to correct you as to what you originally said: you said that "most of the worlds best known virtuoso players of any instrument were self taught, piano included."  You later said that your reference was to "most musicians" which is a much different thing.  The part I took exception to was the reference to "virtuoso players", but I did quote the full sentence.

If you had stated that you were talking from a jazz perspective, I would not have gotten so exercized.

We still have major differences in regard to the role of the teacher in the development of technique (and remember this was the subject, not musicianship), but it's such a huge subject and one that seems so obvious to me, that I choose not to belabor the point.