How to improve the sound of my chords?

[kittenyarn]

Hii! I have heard sometimes that the sound in my chords is a bit harsh and that I should make the top note sing more. I have tried a bit but I haven't been able to fix it. Does anyone here know what to do to make my chords sound less harsh?

Thanks a lot!

[brogers70]

Hii! I have heard sometimes that the sound in my chords is a bit harsh and that I should make the top note sing more. I have tried a bit but I haven't been able to fix it. Does anyone here know what to do to make my chords sound less harsh?

Thanks a lot!

One exercise you can try is to play the chord but then immediately release all but the top note. Obviously you won't do that when playing the piece for performance, but doing it in practice will help you get the sound of a well-voiced chord in your ear. Then gradually work on approximating that sound (ie a clear voicing of the top note) while leaving the fingers in place on the lower notes.

Depending on how stretched out your hand is for the chord it can also help to make sure that your fifth finger (or whichever is playing the top note) is perfectly lined up in parallel with the key it is playing - that will tend to make that finger sound relatively more, and the others relatively less. You can also do a little forearm rotation so that the plane of your hand is tilted towards the upper note.

Finally, don't drop onto the chord from above the keys. Have your fingers on the keys and use the weight of your arm to produce most of the sound - your fingers will still move a bit. What you want to avoid is dropping down from above, because that (1) increases mechanical noise from the mechanism of the piano and (2) makes t harder to control the voicing.

[kittenyarn]

Hi! Thanks for your tips!

In big chords and octaves I can't keep my pinky lined up with the key. I have to keep it at an angle Can I still get the top note louder without that?

What does it mean to use the weight of my arm?

[brogers70]

Hi! Thanks for your tips!

In big chords and octaves I can't keep my pinky lined up with the key. I have to keep it at an angle Can I still get the top note louder without that?

What does it mean to use the weight of my arm?

Sure you can voice the top even if the chord is wide enough that you cannot line up your fifth finger - that suggestion only applies when it's possible to do it.

To use the weight of your arm means.....well, first you could just search "arm weight" in this forum......but you can get the idea from doing this: hold your third finger on the surface of a key without sounding it, then relax your arm so that gravity pulls your arm (and hand and finger) down and you play the note that way. It's better, though, to just ask your teacher, if you have one, or a piano playing friend, so you can have a hands on demonstration and somebody there to correct you until you get the feel of it.

[j_tour]

To use the weight of your arm means.....well, first you could just search "arm weight" in this forum......but you can get the idea from doing this: hold your third finger on the surface of a key without sounding it, then relax your arm so that gravity pulls your arm (and hand and finger) down and you play the note that way.

Yeah, I don't want to butt in unduly, but as a younger pre-teen/young teenager, this was about the way my professor had me me do it.  Not literally in that method, although I think that sounds effective, but the basic idea was one of many challenges.  I think in Brahms and Scriabin, but also in Beethoven.  Really, it's a core technique that shows up everywhere, now that I consider it.

It's not exactly "rolling" your hand (in a physical sense), but it was at least one time a challenge that had to have been overcome.

It's hard to explain:  it's not deliberately applying pressure to one finger, but it's almost a mental game, is how I remember solving the problem.  Or, rather, having had it explained to me and demonstrated.  And then playing whatever rep at home.  I think it was one of the earlier Scriabin préludes where I was taught (or told!) that it was necessary.  In that case, a very simple prélude of Scriabin, but perhaps because of its simplicity, the technique was required all the moreso.  I don't recall which.

I'd say equal parts listening (and concentrating) and some surprisingly light effort from the forearm, up to the elbow, and indeed flexion about the torso.  I don't think of it as a finger technique, at all, although I don't have perfect recall of every instance.  It's an upper body technique, but needn't be histrionics or exaggerated, which would be impossible given the frequency of this technical foundational element.

That's all I got, but it's very important to get right.

Give yourself about a week:  you'll get it.

Or, let's say...I think it's the adagio middle movement from Beethoven's Pathétique...you know, even if you don't want to play it...that could be a good practice exercise, just for that (although it's worth playing, as well as the whole sonata, should you want to).  Not suggesting that, really, as a piece of music, just it seems like a good exercise for sight-reading and stressing the inequalities of sound among voicings in both hands.

Just one of many examples, but that seems like a good one for stressing that technique, which is (I hope) not too demanding, especially if just used as an exercise.  It is pretty, anyway, at least I think so, so it won't abuse your ears.

And, since that would be a "practice" piece for the technique (an exemplary one, I would think!), no pedal:  just dry and work on it.

If you'd rather, try the Op. 26 of Beethoven, first movement, the variations, although you'd have to pick and choose.  (Probably just the theme....some of the variations are a bit hairy to play and don't emphasize the technique you need to master).  Come to think of it, there's a LOT of Beethoven that involves plunking down chords while using the same hand to carry the melody in the same hand, through his whole piano repertoire.  Not that other composers give or take a hundred years don't do the same, but that was kind of a constant, maybe even one secret of Beethoven's "two fisted" piano sound through much of his career.

It's just so many places where you need to get this locked down, it's hard to say where one doesn't need this.

Or for a very simple exercise, if you get tired of sight-reading:  pick up some lead sheets for pop tune, and improvise chords in both hands, plus the melody.  (OK, I guess that's technically "sight-reading" from a lead-sheet, but if it's a tune you've heard a bunch, you probably don't need the music...should be one with a lot of chords, though...those old tin-pan-alley tunes are good for that.  Ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters".....fun to play....but, not really a lot of chords to work on.  Although, you should play that too!  Why not! )  Anyway, the point is tunes which are more old-school, with lots of chords and, you might get lucky and find one with some interesting changes...some of those old buzzards were pretty clever. 

That may be strange to you, but you should know how to do that.  Just pick one or several.  "Somewhere Over The rainbow" or "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" or whatever.  Doesn't matter.  Just think reading the chord symbols and the melody, and make it work.  It's not difficult, and might be fun for you.

[ranjit]

What helped me understand arm weight was to keep watching video recordings of concert pianists I liked playing virtuosic stuff, typically Chopin and Liszt. You notice that when they play fortissimo at parts, they tend to use their whole body. You can see them leaning in and using weight from their back. The head snaps forth as a counterweight to the impulse. After a while the idea instinctively worked its way into my playing.

[kittenyarn]

Thank you for your answers! It's really difficult to understand, I have read a bit but I just don't get it. How would I make the weight of my back go to the piano? My back is my back and it stays there unless I like turn around and fall backwards and hit the keys with my back, but that's probably not what you mean