Book on the best methods to play piano in the best way!

[luct]

The best pianist as Krystian Zimerman, Valentina Lisitsa, Maurizio Pollini etc.. Surely they had a particular method to play piano.. Exist some book that explain the best methods to play piano?

[stevensk]

Im sure there are several books but far better is a good teacher and a motivated and focused pupil

[mmm151]

Read G Sandor: On Piano Playing; Seymour Fink: Mastering Piano Technique plus accompanying DVD; Kendall Taylor: Principles of Piano Technique; Aiko Onishi:Pianism; Neil Stannard: Piano Technique Demystified plus his videos (on YouTube); Barbara Lister-Sink (DVD or on YouTube): Freeing the Caged Bird. Also watch Jackie Sharp - Purrfect practice on YouTube for practising in technical patterns efficiently and Seymour Berstein on YouTube for excellent general advice & demonstration.

In fact, read & observe as much as you possibly can about piano playing in addition to being a proficient player of fast scales, arpeggios, chromatic scales, broken chords and the like.

Ultimately though, I agree that a teacher who can demonstrate well-coordinated piano technique as well as visionary interpretation including demonstrating beautiful tone production, effective pedalling, dynamic control, etc is indispensable.

[luct]

thank you very much! Are this methods That Are Used by the best pianists ?? For example my question is "A pianist Valentina Lisitsa like as did have to Obtain her awesome technique ??" We making same thing can to Obtain similar results !! However a good teacher but is essential to know and to learn new thing is always good !!

[thalbergmad]

For example my question is "A pianist Valentina Lisitsa like as did have to Obtain her awesome technique ??"

She read "How to play Rachmaninov like a constipated squid" by Sir Q La Saw.

Thal

[mmm151]

Valentina Lisitsa, being Russian trained, undoubtedly experienced 8 or more years of rigorous foundational piano tuition from top Russian teachers who would have given her sound advice both musically & technically.

By the age of 15, students in this situation have usually mastered all the significant piano repertoire & spend subsequent years mainly refining their interpretation. In addition, such students acquire extremely good facility & a fast tempo in all the various piano scales,arpeggios, etc during this early training, as well as having frequent exposure to performance opportunities in various capacities.

Also, by her own admission, Valentina developed her own style of piano technique in addition to her early training. On observing her playing, it is obvious that she has extremely well-coordinated movements of fingers, hands, wrists & arms at the keyboard, as well as having eliminated all unnecessary tension in her performance, not to mention the musical insight she also demonstrates. This coordination & freedom in piano playing can be achieved partly through reading & observation of the sources I mentioned above, plus with the help of a good teacher. Also read my post on fast 8ves, as some of this knowledge is contained there.

I don't know what level you've reached in your piano playing, but you have to firstly do the ground-work with a knowledgeable mentor. This involves playing a lot of baroque works starting with movements from Suites, then Bach Preludes & Fugues, then classical sonatinas & sonatas, plus Chopin Preludes, Nocturnes, Ballades, Etudes, not to mention all the other romantic repertoire of Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, Liszt, Rachmaninov, etc as well as concertos & many modern pieces. Only then, unless one is a genius, would the calibre of Lisitsa's playing be achievable, given that one has a fair degree of natural aptitude to begin with. This doesn't mean give up. Superior piano playing is the result of many years of focused application & study with the right teacher. Reading & observation can enhance, but not replace, this.

[marikafrank]

You asked a very good question, and we can only give you different, personal anwers.
I will focus here only on one important part: How to get a feeling for harmonies, modulations and a beautiful voice-leading?

For more than a year I have been using two new, excellent, Bach books with my piano students. I hope you can lay your hand on them somehow. I will share some information here:

1 ) One is an excercise book for quality Bach harmony and beautiful voice-leading

2 ) Book with answers: All Bach´s Chorales ANALYZED, with chords, modulations
      - very exact Roman Numbers ( also all inversions) are below the piano score
      - modern (Jazz type) exact CHORDS are simultaneously above the piano score
     
NOTICE: This spark of genius to simultaneously show Roman Number analysis  AND modern Jazz chords in Bach has opened my students´ understanding and personal creativity - the same happened to myself as teacher   

I got my own copies sent to my home here in Scandinavia in 2013 for 45USD from Amazon.com. The author and books are CHRISTOPHER CZARNECKI: J.S. Bach 413 Chorales Analyzed  the excercise book has the same name but without "Analyzed".

There is a good website about the Bach books, will try to LINK down here:
https://bachchoraleharmony.com/

There is a rather good Facebook page named: J.S. Bach 413 Chorales: Analyzed
I will try to LINK it down here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/JS-Bach-413-Chorales-Analyzed/831877606883957?pnref=story

[anamnesis]

You asked a very good question, and we can only give you different, personal anwers.
I will focus here only on one important part: How to get a feeling for harmonies, modulations and a beautiful voice-leading?

For more than a year I have been using two new, excellent, Bach books with my piano students. I hope you can lay your hand on them somehow. I will share some information here:

1 ) One is an excercise book for quality Bach harmony and beautiful voice-leading

2 ) Book with answers: All Bach´s Chorales ANALYZED, with chords, modulations
      - very exact Roman Numbers ( also all inversions) are below the piano score
      - modern (Jazz type) exact CHORDS are simultaneously above the piano score
     
NOTICE: This spark of genius to simultaneously show Roman Number analysis  AND modern Jazz chords in Bach has opened my students´ understanding and personal creativity - the same happened to myself as teacher   

I got my own copies sent to my home here in Scandinavia in 2013 for 45USD from Amazon.com. The author and books are CHRISTOPHER CZARNECKI: J.S. Bach 413 Chorales Analyzed  the excercise book has the same name but without "Analyzed".

There is a good website about the Bach books, will try to LINK down here:
https://bachchoraleharmony.com/

There is a rather good Facebook page named: J.S. Bach 413 Chorales: Analyzed
I will try to LINK it down here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/JS-Bach-413-Chorales-Analyzed/831877606883957?pnref=story

I have the book, and while it is an admirable attempt, sometimes the analyses leave a little bit to be desired.  The main problem is that it tries to force a bunch of roman numerals on every vertical simultaneity, slice by slice, without regard for the overall context and actual horizontal motion.

I get the feeling that the author was taught harmony from an older style of harmony book (Piston or Payne) that has been coming out of fashion in the US, with more Schenkerian influenced texts replacing them.  Stephen Laitz, an author of one of those texts, makes the point here:

=211

[marikafrank]

 Good point, anamnesis, and your Stephen Laitz-video link is highly interesting.

After taking your point in consideration, then, naturally, there is an objective part in learning  harmony - to find modulations and cadences.

This book is  important because the raw material of Bach is so excellent!

There is a hidden richness here: Bach have a world of genial micro harmonies: ( as a teacher himself he sometimes changes chord on 1/8 notes - even beautifully on 1/16 notes in slower tempi )  - This may not be important at all in my piano-playing, but I am so curious to know how Bach was thinking -  and this book shows all details.

One point is important especially in the book´s analysis of Bach´s modulations.
Here it is true, that analyses are in fact creative -  and  forms of interpretations.
NOTICE: the book has modulations between brackets/parentheses for this reason

 I like, that besides the ´bunch of roman numerials´ belove the score this book has very exact modern Jazz chords above Bach´s piano score. A genial solution here!

Your point on HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT: Because the book also analyzes long MODULATIONS we thus get your important functional aspecs of harmonies. Perhaps as much as we can expect from a Bach Chorale, which naturally is rather short. As an answer to your point about function: these Bach Chorales are short but they are excellent teaching materials for learning how harmony function in a beautiful 4-part voice-leading . It is not easy to find a  substitute of this quality in other Bach books.

I´m now an old emeritus professor. I looked aroud a whole life for good books

Lastly here: How to get a clear and good voice-leading in our piano playing?
The piano score in these books are in Bach´s beautiful 4-part voicing, where every individual piano voice is an interseting melody ( I often sing a different part while playing). This took me and my students all the way (via WTC I and II) to Bach´s great Die Kunst der Fuge, Art of the Fuge, in a surprisingly natural way - mostly out of pure curiosity and love of Bach´s music from starting with anlyzing the Chorales and then  -  bravely onwards 


TODAY I heard, that this book may sell out this weekend (because of Bach´s 330th birthday now in March 2015 ) Grab a copy if you still can get one - try this link:

https://www.amazon.com/J-S-Bach-413-Chorales-Analyzed/dp/0989087905/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1

Excuse me, I perhaps got too enthusiastic, just a book excellent for learning