Developing "feeling" and "expression"

[quebec75]

I've been studying for a little over a year.  My sightreading skills and skills in general are improving.  One of the areas that seem to be lagging, though, is my ability to play with a degree of "feeling" or expression.

I notice when my piano teacher sits down to play anything that she has great control over the volume, intensity and feeling of every note she plays.  When I sit down and play, even after I've memorized a piece and played it many times, when I listen to it later (digital piano) there's a lack of feeling.  It's very mechanica.

My teacher tries to keep me focused on my progress and tells me it will come with time.

I was wondering are there any hints or techniques that you could share on how to practice to develop the ability to play with "expression"?

I don't see that topic addressed in the forums,

Thanks,
Philip

[xvimbi]

This is indeed something that will come with time (if it comes at all). "Expression" to me means that you first develop an idea in your head as to how a particular phrase should sound. Then, you try to create that sound on the piano. Whether that idea is a good one is for others to judge, but that is really besides the point.

People who have musicality, but don't know how to translate this into sound, because they haven't acquired the necessary technique yet, can get frustrated, just like you. It is best to accept this inevitability and work diligently at how to create the sound that you have in your head. It is fun to go to your teacher and sing a certain phrase exactly as you would like to play it and then work on how to get it done.

Keep in mind that digital pianos are fundamentally limited in this case. It may in fact be impossible to create the sound that you imagine, no matter how good your technique is. That's why it is important to play on an acoustic if you really want to go for it.

Now, if you are asking how to get good ideas in the first place, well, that is what defines the cream of the crop.

[Daniel_piano]

This is indeed something that will come with time (if it comes at all).

If it comes at all?!
Expression, if one is dedicated about the piano and is developing grade by grade, is developed like any other technique

I don't think digital pianos prevent expression, in fact a good piece played with good expression on a digital piano sounds expressively good
Take those demos in the Yamaha, I feel lot of expression in them

here's quebec some suggestions to develop expression

1) expression is like any other technique, if it's a waste of time to repeate your piece over and over making the same errors instead of practicing spot by spot and working on the problematic spot, expression works the same way
So, don't try to give the piece expression by just repeating it over and over
Mark the spot that you want to play with more expression and work only on that spot

2) Listen to a CD or have you teacher play your piece for you with expression so that you can imitate those sounds and eventually choose yourself what expression you like beast

3) take a red pencil and mark, underline or circle all the dynamics and expression marks: pp, p, mf, f, ff, crescendo, calando, morendo, melodicamente, poco cresciendo, dolce, con fuoco and so on

4) work on those spots where there expression marks and experiment with different ways to reproduce that affect
For example a morendo with a pp in the next bar would be like starting quite strongly and slowly piano more and more soflty until the sound is pp
Experiment with these just a spot at one time

5) Don't play mathematically
There's sentence I like a lot by a teacher that said that even if beginners are taught that music is mathematic 1 quarter = 2 quavers, but you don't always have to be some strict of your piece will sound too mechanic, for example when there's a > you may even need to out of time so that the piece will not be following the metronome
Here's the sentence:

"Iambic pentameter means five "equal" feet, yet no one ever speaks it (for
instance, when performing a play of Shakespeare) as five exactly equal feet
unless trying to sound like a robot.

In a similar vein, in a 4/4 measure filled with eighth notes, all 8 eighth
notes are not all equal.  If you play them all equal (as we teach beginners
to do) then you are playing like a robot"

Now this is very important and many teachers forge to explain that to play beautifully you must forget about the strict methamatical rules you're first taught
Playing following the metronome or respecting mathematic note equations will result in mehcanical dry sound

5) Sometimes is not easy to practice the kind of "force" to impress to the key to create a > effect or a < or a cresciendo or a morendo
Since you've a digital piano try to practice these dynamics and expressions with the speackers turned off
Just press the keys with no sound at all
You'll see that it's a lot easier to control your >, <, ff, pp, mf etc.. when you can only focus on the sensation of the force by which you press the keys without the distraction of sounds or wrong notes

6) Sing the piece you're practicing and practice using the expression you want by singing
Developing expression while singing is far more easy than to try first on the intrument as you have innately more control over you voice in fact surely you already have the "technique" to shout or whisper

Hope this helps
Daniel

[xvimbi]

Expression, if one is dedicated about the piano and is developing grade by grade, is developed like any other technique

I beg to differ, slightly. Expression requires one to have a clear idea of how a passage should sound like. This is not something that can be practiced in a systematic way. Yes, one can learn what the techniques are that produce a certain sound to reflect certain moods, feelings, etc., but getting ideas in the first place is something else. I know people who cannot play angry pieces and people who just can't get a lovely voice brought out nicely, although they do have a good command over pianistsic techniques. It's a psychological problem more than a technical one. Now, if you would classify this as a technical problem, then I agree.

I don't think digital pianos prevent expression, in fact a good piece played with good expression on a digital piano sounds expressively good
Take those demos in the Yamaha, I feel lot of expression in them

I never said "prevent", I said "limit". For example, I have yet to see an affordable digital piano that can produce pp. Dynamics on a digital are very different than on an acoustic. The softest sound one can achieve on a good Yamaha digital is much louder than on an acoustic. I am not even mentioning the richness of sound and the control over tone quality that a good acoustic has to offer over even the best digital. These features are required to play most expressively. Still, good digitals leave ample room for playing expressively, certainly at this stage of the game.

[Daniel_piano]

Expression, if one is dedicated about the piano and is developing grade by grade, is developed like any other technique

I beg to differ, slightly. Expression requires one to have a clear idea of how a passage should sound like. This is not something that can be practiced in a systematic way. Yes, one can learn what the techniques are that produce a certain sound to reflect certain moods, feelings, etc., but getting ideas in the first place is something else. I know people who cannot play angry pieces and people who just can't get a lovely voice brought out nicely, although they do have a good command over pianistsic techniques.

I think there's a difference between expression and interpretation
Learning expression simply means learn the techniques to produce certain sounds and certain sounds effect
Utilizing technique, dynamics, tempo, accuracy and expression and translate them in a musica interpretation is a different thing and I agree with you that one can learn how to technically play a cresciendo but that doesn't necessarily mean that he/she will be able to use this cresciendo mastery in a musical way
Expression can be taught, musicality can't

It's a psychological problem more than a technical one. Now, if you would classify this as a technical problem, then I agree.

Well yes, if they don't "feel" the music they can't hope to play a piece musically
To me, though, quebec problem (for what we can understand from his message) is not one of lack of musicality of emotion but a lack of technique mastering in the expression effects
Meaning that we don't know if he can use a cresciendo drammatically and with pathos, but he made clear that he doesn't know how to play a cresciendo on a piano
The first stage (learing the crescendo technique) can be taught and practiced

I don't think digital pianos prevent expression, in fact a good piece played with good expression on a digital piano sounds expressively good
Take those demos in the Yamaha, I feel lot of expression in them

I never said "prevent", I said "limit". For example, I have yet to see an affordable digital piano that can produce pp.

I don't think is a dynamics problem
It's jus that you can't hear a pp with such light speackers and so you're compelled to play stronger and do a p
But if you plug your digital piano toa set of big external speackers or your hi-fi and choose the hard touch you can play a pp

These features are required to play most expressively. Still, good digitals leave ample room for playing expressively, certainly at this stage of the game.

The sound is clearly different and you can feel the "woody" sound only on acoustic
But on the other hand when I hear chopin etudes on digital I don't see much expression differences, sound differences of course but expressions not much
I've even heard Islamey on a digital and it sound espressively as good as played on an acoustic one at an exam
I agree with you though on the richness of sound of an acoustic one

Daniel

[xvimbi]

I don't think is a dynamics problem
It's jus that you can't hear a pp with such light speackers and so you're compelled to play stronger and do a p
But if you plug your digital piano toa set of big external speackers or your hi-fi and choose the hard touch you can play a pp

I have analyzed a Yamaha PF-500, latest generation. The softest loudness (apart from 0) it can produce is around 37 on a scale from 0 to 255. This is way too loud for the softest sound. I have not done a similar analysis with Technics, Casio, Kawai, etc., but judging from just playing them, I don't think they are much different. I don't know, however, how general this is. I'll open a thread in the Instruments section.

[rlefebvr]

Although I love my digital, I must agree, the range from an acoustic is really not possible on a digital. However, it is much easier not to play too loud on a digital and in fact it makes learning dynamics a little easier.

Course, then you go a an acoustic and realize you play like sh*t. :-)

I for one do not believe a beginner should worry about dynamics. There is to much other stuff going on. You will know when you are ready to put proper touches in your playing and you will get a tremendous high and want to re learn everything again.

It took me 3 years before I was playing well enough to comprehend the sound I was producing. Now, it's the favorite part of practice. Getting it sound like you hear it in your head. Awesome feeling.

Does not mean, you can't work on it, but I would not worry about it just yet.

[ChristmasCarol]

I do a lot of "play it like this" with my students.  If they play it mechanically I then play it for them with expression.  There is a lot that's taken in by osmosis.  Also, do some good listening - lots of it. 

[julie391]

listen to recordings that move you - over and over - and learn what makes them so emotional.

often it is dynamic or rhythmic inflections at climatic points, and moments of particular harmonic beauty - listen and learn

[lostinidlewonder]

If you are worried about your volume changes do what Liszt always said. When you play Crescendo start softer than you normally would and get louder, and for decresendo, start louder than you normally would then get softer.

I think the majority of musical expression comes from tempo control. I think a natural tempo control is developed through listening to heaps and heaps of recordings from heaps and heaps of different peices. Once, within your head, you have all this music, then natural ideas start coming up as to when to slow down, speed up, get louder or softer, hold of this note or that. It is a matter of experience and exposure to as much music as you can get ur hands/ears onto   It is just like painting a picture, a master painter doesnt think about what angle is he moving his brush, they just looks at what is being produced. You can really become creative at the piano once you start listening to what you are producing, rather than what your fingers are doing.

[bernhard]

I've been studying for a little over a year.  My sightreading skills and skills in general are improving.  One of the areas that seem to be lagging, though, is my ability to play with a degree of "feeling" or expression.

I notice when my piano teacher sits down to play anything that she has great control over the volume, intensity and feeling of every note she plays.  When I sit down and play, even after I've memorized a piece and played it many times, when I listen to it later (digital piano) there's a lack of feeling.  It's very mechanica.

My teacher tries to keep me focused on my progress and tells me it will come with time.

I was wondering are there any hints or techniques that you could share on how to practice to develop the ability to play with "expression"?

I don't see that topic addressed in the forums,

Thanks,
Philip

There is a very common misconception amongst piano teachers and pianists about “playing with feeling” and “playing mechanically”. The misconception is that what they perceive as “playing with feeling” and “playing mechanically” has somehow to do with the way you press the keys. They are forever talking about “touch” this and “touch” that. It is a deeply ingrained idea and no one wants to let it go.

Without going too much into the physics of it, or the ugly details, the fact is that “touch” has very little to do with it. Although you may witness luminaries like Claudio Arrau (incidentally one of my favourite pianists) and Glenn Gould (not one of my favourite pianists) shaking their fingers on the depressed keys in a mimic of the tremolo of violin, cello and guitar players, such antics result in no difference at all in the sound. These guys should know better.

The only two things pianists can do (playing normal repertory – if you are playing a prepared piano and pinching the strings with your fingers, then it is a different matter altogether) is press the keys faster or slower (resulting in a louder or softer sound) and make the string vibrate for longer or shorter periods (by either holding on to the key and preventing the damper to stop the key from vibrating, or by using the damper pedal and keeping all the dampers off). In two short words: dynamics and agogics.

It is from the careful and thoughtful manipulation of these two effects that the illusion of “expressive”, “feeling” “emotional” playing arise.

If so, why your teacher’s playing is so different from yours, and how can you emulate it?

The answer is both simple and discouraging.

Piano playing is not complicated, but it is a very complex act (that is, it is a combination of a myriad of simple actions that must be perfectly co-ordinated). Consider some of the decisions that must be taken in regards to any simple passage:

1.   Fingering. What is the fingering that will lead naturally to the best rendition of this passage for my physicality? (Notice that this question assumes you already what is the best rendition of the passage) How, once I decide on this do I proceed in order to ingrain this fingering? (Again this assumes that you know enough of practice methods to answer this question).

2.   Technical problems: Which movements do I have to apply to this passage in order to play it with a balance of tensions and releases? How can I fine-tune my movements in order that each movement prepares automatically for the next? How do I make sure never to hit any wrong notes? How do I bring this passage to speed? Where is the cause of my hands not being together in fast running passages?


3.   Phrasing:  How do I determine the breathing points of the piece (where are the cadences). How do I phrase by a gradation of activity and passivity, of tension and relaxation?

4. Articulation: What is the appropriate articulation for the passage? Have I analysed this piece in terms of a hierarchy of groupings (which notes belong together, which notes belong separately; which phrases organise themselves into periods and so on). Is there a pattern? And how does this pattern relate to meter and rhythm?

5.   Melody: where is the melody of the piece – is there more than one melodic strand in different voices? And how do I bring it up? By accenting dynamically the melodic notes? By accenting them rhythmically? By accenting them harmonically? By displacing them in relation to the harmony? Which notes are essential and which are decorative? Am I paying as much attention to the notes as to the spaces in between the notes? Am I “articulating” the melody in a manner appropriate to the style of the composition?

6. Harmony: Do I understand the deep sense of “harmony”, that is, the sounding of each note as dependent and related to all the other notes? Do I understand that in the piano, even when a note has ceased to sound I can still bring out that silent note by playing the other notes in relation to it (that is as if it was still sounding?) Can I tell if the chords are dissonant or consonant? Am I making sure that dissonances are accented and resolutions into the consonant chord are subdued? So I know the difference between active (pulling) chords and passive (reposing) ones? Do I know all the chords in the piece, and their underlying keys? Can I tell when modulation (tonal centre shifts) are occurring? Have I marked the cadences in the piece? Where are the points of greatest harmonic tension?

7. Tempo: How fast should this piece be played? What are the rates of movement between the several passages? How slowly can it be played and still be effective? Any local changes of tempo (rit., rall.)?

8. Rhythm: Am I aware of the pattern of strong/weak beats in the piece? What are the rhythm patterns? Cross rhythms? Syncopations? Is rubato appropriate and is so where?

9. Dynamics: What is the dynamic range of the piece? How many colours does the piece/passage has?

This list does not even begin to scratch to tip of the iceberg.

But can you see that answering it and implementing the answers will pretty much take care of “feeling” and “emotion”? From the point of view of the performer, there should be little or no emotion whatsoever. The audience must feel moved by the performance, not the performer. Think about a magic show. Do you really believe that the best way for the magician to shock and surprise his audience is for him himself to get shocked and surprised at this own tricks?

So you may start to see where your teacher has the edge over you. S/he knows the answers to these questions (or should know) and s/he can implement them. In short: s/he knows far more than you and s/he can do far more than you can. Which is ultimately why s/he is the teacher and you are the student.

As you may begin to surmise, there is no way you can tackle all of these aspects (and the list is by no means exhaustive) fully aware of each and every detail. You must delegate most if not all of these tasks to the unconscious mind.

For more information on how to do this, have a look here:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5995.msg58775.html#msg58775

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[teresa_b]

Interesting!  Bernhard, I like all your points, except I disagree that the performer should not be feeling the emotion, only the audience.  How can you play convincingly without feeling the emotion? 

It's all-important to have practiced consciously to get all the effects you want, but after the technical work is done, I find that my best performance is when I "lose" myself in the music.  Like meditating, one zeroes in on the music such that all the practiced technique flows, and the emotion is part of the whole. 

As an old  amateur,  I have found that certain aspects of "musical" playing are often neglected by students.  (I admit, it took me a long time to get it.)

These are: 

Not attending to the "long lines" of the music and phrasing accordingly.  I've been helped at times to think of a passage in terms of how a violin might sound, or the human voice. 

Not bringing out the melody enough compared to accompaniment.   

All the best, and happy playing!
Teresa

[bernhard]

Interesting!  Bernhard, I like all your points, except I disagree that the performer should not be feeling the emotion, only the audience.  How can you play convincingly without feeling the emotion? 

Yes, of course, the performer must also feel some emotion (I think it would be impossible not to have any emotion whatsoever). What I meant is that the emotions a performer should feel are very different from the emotions s/he wants to elicit form the audience. Like the magician, who primarily wants to elicit feelings of surprise  and awe from his audience, but he himself cannot possibly feel the same since he knows the trickery. Mind you, he may even have to fake surprise and awe, but his emotions and enjoyment will be very different (the audience enjoys being tricked, he enjoys tricking them). Or a juggler doing an impressive juggling routine. The audience may be awed and even moved by the aesthetic beauty and difficulty of the performance, but the juggler will be mostly in a zen state, since his many hours of practice will have made the performance easy for him, and he cannot afford to be in awe of the aesthetic beauty of what he is doing, since he will start dropping balls.

But then again, this must be just me. I hear of people crying in certain pieces of music, and I must confess that such outbursts of raw emotion are quite alien to me. Usually the foremost emotion I experience when listening to superior music, is appreciation of beauty (pretty lame, I know), and of course the intellectual pleasure afforded by composers like Bach.

In any case, the performer will necessarily have different emotional response from the audience simply because his knowledge is far more comprehensive.

I thought of another example. A doctor operating on a patient cannot afford to display the same emotions that a layman would in the same situation, since he would panic (or even faint). This is not to say that the Dr. has no emotions, but that he has very different emotions – and they must be different if the operation is to be successful.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[fuel925]

Playing with feeling and expression will come naturally over time, especially when you start learning pieces you will enjoy playing and listening to.

[moose_opus_28]

Expression starts with feeling the mood of piece within yourself.  Having your own vision for a piece is what musicality is.  Technique is a method to transfer what you feel to sound so everyone else can hear your vision of a piece.  Musicality can't be really taught, but it can be developed by listening to recordings, by singing your music, and just getting more into what you're doing emotionally.

It is possible to be technically excellent, and have enough training to know how to play everything "right," but have no inner musicality.  Musicality is the difference between a good performance that you can't find fault with and a memorable performance that amazes you.

And "if it ever comes" is really wrong.  Every has different levels of talent, but I have yet to see someone that was truely incapable of feeling.  If you can feel, you can find a way to put it into your music.  Keep trying at it!  One year really isn't long in music.  You are just scratching the surface now.  Keep improving in technique and control, and you'll learn to bring yourself out in the music!

[prettypianoplaying]

I think that you CAN teach a child how to play with "feeling" or "expression". 
I was taught how to play with feeling.  My teacher would always tell me a story behind the song, or she would ask me to tell her what I think is happening during certain sections of the music and we would develop a plot line so that you can imagine characters and their moods and how they feel (which will show through your music if you think about the story while you play).  This is how you communicate what this piece is about and show that there's a deeper understanding to it to the audience.

One of your jobs as a pianist is to be a story teller!  If you not telling a story through your music, your playing mechanically.

After the story would come the mood (if mood doesn't already come while playing out the story).  Find a word to describe the mood of a certain passage you would like to show feeling in.  Does it give you a sense of warmth and joy? or is it cold and disturbing? Try and communicate that through the passage.  The teacher can play the difference between certain moods so the student may understand the difference between a happy feeling and a sad feeling.

One thing my teacher would do is write down as many discriptive words she could think of onto paper and keep that beside her piano so that when she wanted a new word to decribe the feeling of a passage, she would have a list of words  to choose from to decribe that passage best.   (of course you have to keep adding to your list when you hear new words)!

Lastly, you should play it like your singing!  It's very hard to sing mechanically.
My teacher would always sing (with "feeling") certain passages while I play them to work in that "feeling" aspect into MY playing.  That would help me get an idea of how it should sound. (singing also helps for timing and other things while teaching young students).

After alot of this type of work, and growth in the student (mentally), they SHOULD be able to develop their own "touch" of "feeling" into their music and the teacher may not have to work on it so much (this is if they student TRUELY enjoys playing music).

Although, even I, (just finished my ARCT and plays with LOTS of emotio)), need a little work on displaying my emotions in my music.  My teacher would use these "methods" to bring my playing to the next level and it works.  It also gives you a fresh perspective on your songs because you'll be playing it a little differently after you've worked on it like this, and once you've organized your thoughts on the piece, it'll really show that you know what story you want to tell and that you know how it should be played to communicate it.  This makes you more enjoyable to listen to!

Hopefully this made sense (its hard to explain it by writing)!

[jeremyjchilds]

My teacher always adresses this problem in me with a three stage practicing cycle.

Hear
Hear in your mind what you want it to sound like (now would be the time to print out Bernhards post and think about what will produce the desired sound)

Play
Play the passage using the most appropriate technique

Evaluate
Listen the whole time you are playing and make a concious effort to evaluate the appropriateness of your choice of technique.

THe last two seem very intuitive and basic, but it is important to really spend time on the first step. The usual problem is not knowing what you want it to sound like...this is the first step that I recommend taking.

I believe that listening to yourself play is more important than listening to others...

[jehangircama]

for my grade 8 trinity my teacher told me to record my pieces using a simple tape recorder and listen to them. It was quite a revelation. many things that I had not intended at all came into my playing. so it was very useful...