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Topic: High or Low?  (Read 3428 times)

Offline ScaryCarphone

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High or Low?
on: March 18, 2003, 08:19:09 AM
One of the posts inspired me to ask this question:  Do you prefer to sit higher, lower, or level in relationship to the keys, and why?  I wonder if there is a new trend in the way pianists are sitting these days.  

Offline frederic

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #1 on: March 18, 2003, 08:37:28 AM
I like to sit a bit higher because its more comfortable for me ;D
"The concert is me" - Franz Liszt

Offline willcowskitz

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #2 on: March 18, 2003, 04:27:42 PM
I like to sit relatively high, but it might be because I can't play without looking at the keys, and sitting high gives me a broader vision. I do keep my hands pretty low but it depends on music really. Staccato for high, legato for low, I suppose... Maybe its just me and my ignorance about technical and theoretical side of music.

Offline tosca1

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #3 on: March 19, 2003, 05:40:28 AM
I prefer to sit low because of my wrists.  My wrists would rise as tension increased and that would affect freedom and independence of the fingers. I find that with my wrists low and and my forearms sloping very slightly downwards this problem is minimised. I believe too that sitting high can affect the sound adversely with more attack causing a harsher, less warm sound.
However, we are all made differently and the question of sitting high or low at the piano is idiosyncratic.
Robert.

Offline dinosaurtales

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #4 on: March 19, 2003, 08:10:51 AM
What's *high* and what's *low* to you guys?  I have no idea where I sit!
So much music, so little time........

Offline tosca1

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #5 on: March 19, 2003, 10:47:04 AM
High or low simply means the height of the chair or piano bench that you sit on when playing the piano. The best piano benches are of course adjustable.  There was the celebrated pianist de Pachmann who was quite obsessive about the height of his piano stool and was reputed to have once placed a postage stamp under the leg of his piano bench to adjust its height which revealed the performer even before the recital began.

Greetings,
Robert.

Offline rachfan

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #6 on: March 20, 2003, 04:01:21 AM
I always like to sit low, so I keep my artist bench as low as it will go.  I agree with tosca1.  Sitting low, I find that I produce a warmer tone on the "drop", whereas sitting high produces a more dry and brittle sound, probably owing to slightly higher wrists.

de Pachmann, also mentioned by tosca, was a wonderful Chopin exponent, called "The Chopinzee", I believe.  He used to take pains on stage at times to conceal his fingerings,  fearful that they would be copied by competitors.  I once read another story that he always wore a robe at night claimed to have once belonged to Mozart.  One time Rubinstein on an Atlantic crossing knocked on de Pachmann's cabin door to wish him well, and sure enough, he had that robe on.  Rubinstein was trying hard not to laugh and could barely contain himself.  Another time, de Pachmann stode down the recital hall aisle and went up on stage to demonstate how a piece "should be played" when he disagreed with the artist's rendition.  So performing artists were terrified if they knew he was in the hall.   He was a miniaturist in selecting repertoire, but anything he did play was absolutely exquisite by all accounts.  Despite his ecentricities, he had a large following right up to the end.   When you think of somebody like de Pachmann, so many of today's artists seem, well, like nonfat, homogenized, plain vanilla somehow.
Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities.

Offline amee

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #7 on: March 22, 2003, 09:02:49 AM
I like to sit high because I feel its more work for my fingers when I sit low.  
"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." - Frederic Chopin

Offline tosca1

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Re: High or Low?
Reply #8 on: March 22, 2003, 09:46:41 AM
Precisely, amee. Sitting low does make your fingers do the work, but is that not good for your technical development?  The foundations of good technique lie in the acquisition of independence for the fingers which can only be developed by  constantly working and training them.
Regards,
Robert.
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