Voicing

[pianostudenta]

I was always told to bring out the melody, usually the top note of the right hand. There are general questions about how voices are dynamically related, which confuses me. Hope you can help me and won't be annoyed of these detailed questions. Thanks.

a) I play octaves in the right hand and the upper one is supposed to be louder. I always lift my pinky or ring finger higher to be stronger than the thumb. Moreover I put hardly any pressure on the thumb. Is this correct technique?

b) Right hand plays melody and accompaniment. The melody is held longer while the other fingers do something else. Do you really hold the finger playing the melody with finger substitution if necessary or do you simply release the key because you have the sustain pedal? I can't hear any differences, but I always make my life harder and hold the melody, which causes some tension at the beginning. However, after practice, everything is fine.

c) It is often impossble to play successive chords as legato as you do with single notes. You can lift the whole hand for the next chord, but I only release the less important notes and hold the finger with the melody and connect it with the next chord. Furthermore, I sometimes put my ring finger over the pinky to stay legato. Occasionally, it is even indicated in the sheet music. Quite inconvenient, but you get used to it. What do you think about that?

d) That was all about the right hand, but what about the left hand? I know the bass note is the harmonic fundamental and therefore more empathized. In the Tempo rubato section of Debussy's Clair de Lune, the melody in the right hand is also hidden in the left hand chord. Are these notes in the left hand more important than the rest of the chord or are they seen as equal accompaniment? Would an emphasis on them make the melody sound doubled and awkward? In bar 19, the left hand has three voices: A flat octave, right hand melody and additional notes. Are the last two dynamically on the same level or is one more stressed? If they were on the same level, I don't see why Debussy needed to notate a third voice.

Further passages: Which voice is more important?
- bar 30, 4th beat: D flat or G?
- bar 43, right hand: the upper chord notes or the single notes, especially 7th beat: C or G flat?
- bar 45, right hand: the upper chord notes or the single notes?
- bar 47, left or right hand melody?

e) Chopin prélude 4 in E minor, left hand:
- equal accompaniment or are the descending notes emphasized?

f) Czerny op. 299, second etude, bar 13:
My teacher said that the scale in the left hand leads and should be louder. I don't understand why the right hand scale with the higher frequency is not the main voice.

[faulty_damper]

A - Octaves: depends on musical context.  The way you ask makes it seem like you are asking about fingering and not music.  But if I understand you correctly, then I will counter that you are wasting energy by raising your fingers.  I don't raise them any higher; the difference is that I control the speed just before the key hits the keybed.  There is no tension felt in my hand.

B - If there's pedal, use it.  Holding the key/substituting fingers is archaic.  Learn a one-hand piece and you'll understand why this is so.

C - You are again wasting energy.

D, E, F - use your ear.