Preface of Maestro Piero Rattalino
INTRODUCTION
The first methods to play the piano, published in the late 1700s and in the first decade of 1800s, do not only based on thoroughness but also on the progressiveness of teaching. The sequence almost invariably takes into account the following propedeutical stages:
a) music notation learning;
b) note positioning on the keyboard;
c) body posture at the piano;
d) seat height;
e) arm, hand and finger position;
f) finger action.
Upper arm and forearm form a 90-degree angle, forearm and hand a 180-degree angle, the fingers are arched and the fingertips hit the key vertically. Arm and hand move the fingers around the keyboard without playing any active role in the pressing the key, which is managed by the sole fingers. After this premises we carry on to give the fingers equal independence and ability, to study the scales, arpeggios, double notes, octaves, chords and polyphonic execution.
This is all undoubtedly functional for the mechanics of classical piano, today called ‘fortepiano’. It is only partially so for the romantic piano, of heavier mechanics, and it is almost insignificant to modern piano, whose keys are even heavier. Pressing a key on today’s piano means moving about 40 grams. A composition of average duration and difficulty includes about 10,000 notes, which means moving four hundred kilos. So, are fingers enough? Already Chopin had denied the concept of finger independence and equality and had maintained that in addition to fingers, hand and arm played an active part in producing the sound. Therefore, classical technique was becoming obsolete.
Its majesty the finger had then been dethroned: it had become the last part of a system where the motors were not only the muscles of the hand and upper arm which move the fingers, but also the ones of the upper arm, shoulder and body. But the teaching methods failed to understand this in time and worked towards reinforcing the fingers, leaving the upgraded technique already suggested by Chopin up to the individual players and to their needs of expression.
Only after the end of the 1800s they realized the classical technique was a historical aspect of piano technique and it could not be enough to train an aspiring pianist. The new criteria gave birth to new methods. The new methods though, like the older ones, were based on scientific truths (or allegedly so), without taking into account the age and psychology of the student.
On the other hand, Elena Bidoli’s method aims at teaching children from the age of 2. Her method starts from a very traditional point, the five notes. However, placing the notes on the keyboard is simplified by the use of colours: every one of the seven notes of the C major scale is painted differently and reproduces a round and chubby face. Two-year old children do not recognize signs but characters they quickly grow fond of, ‘mister C’ and ‘mister D’.
The notes with their respective colours are written on the staff (the house they live in), the keys are, in turn, identified by coloured stickers and the children fingernails are painted too. This way, the learning process starts imaginatively and continues little by little without forcing or stiffening hand and fingers (legato does not go beyond the perfect fifth), all this without formal instructions on how to position and move hand and fingers
Hand position and technique, which were sacred and untouchable for classical teachers, are not starting points and fundamental principles. They are end points.
We start by repeating notes, which most of time children play instinctively by keeping the finger straight rather than bent or arched, pressing with the whole arm as if they were hoeing. This is an example, and of course we can also start in a different way, but it is important for children to follow their instinct and progressively learn to vary their touch.
‘Hoeing’ the keyboard means in reality understanding the importance of the weight of the arm and the opportunity of ceasing to press after the key has been hit: this is the principle of postclassical technique.
All this requires regular commitment from teacher, pupil and the pupil’s family. But it is not simply a matter of learning to handle a tool; it means seeing in music a general function of our upbringing, education and personality which, as today’s pedagogists say, it has already been boiling for two years. If we proceed with this objective in mind, it will not be a demanding effort and the result will extensively compensate the work done.
Piero Rattalino
Rome, June 2016