THE ETUDE

APRIL

Page 209

1919

How to Practice Broken Chords

Modern Ideas Upon

the Principle of the Minimum

of Controlled Weight

of Muscular Contraction, and the Maximum

to an Everyday Problem

Applied

By LE ROY B. CAMPBELL
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Ex.

1,

SpacingExercisesShould Be the First Practice

Returning to Ex.
let us collect these isolated parts
into wholes, thus:

held for
considerable period, even on an uninteresting
passagealways in the same way
black dot. Practicing
quite parallel to trying to hold the mind on the iso
lated black dot; in order to hold the attention, one must
continually vary the practice material, or, as was sug
gested in reference to the dot, look at the passage in
ever changing aspects.
Let us therefore practice on Exercises 2A and 2B only
few moments, but iiil those moments with consuming
attention and painstaking accuracy. We will continue
to change the gure (always retaining the identical
ngering) so that the mind will be issuing new orders

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keys at the right time. Having found the cause. then

we should at once set about to eliminate
One of
the most fundainental principles in all educational works
to proceed from the whole to the parts. The
painter puts in the background before the details, the
sculptor blocks out his gure rst and then adds the
ner touches, and the architect works along the same
plan. About the only people who do not use this plan
are the numerous piano teachers.

En.

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over the nerve-lines, never remaining on one gure

longer than a moment or two. (See Exercises
A. B.
Place the ngers unconstrainedly over the keys at (a)
C. 1).) Always use small swinging arm motion, which
Ex.
in such manner that the nger tips touch the
will furnish power for tone, thereby allowing perfect
surface of each key in the chord. As soon as this
freedom for nger-spacing.
accomplished, look ahead and form in the mind the
exact nger-spacingmould for the next chord at (b).
$2.51
Bx.Bb
accurately xed in the
As soon as the new position
soft, but crisp tone, the keys under
mind, strike into
the ngers at (a), and in the very same instant move
the playing-mechanism so that the ngers are brought
accurately over the keys in the new position at (b).
12.61:
Use an elastic, springy weight pressure touch in per
forming these exercises. Next, x in mind the position
for (c) and then striking the tones at (b) into tone,
Each passage in both left and right hand may also
spring quickly over the keys at (c). Proceed in this
be practiced by further breaking up the chord as at
manner as far as the passagedemands and then return.
Y Exercise 7a, 7b and 7c.
Next, practice the left-hand part in the same manner.
We are told in James Psychology that even though
task may be very complicated and very di-icult, yet
by attention and deliberation in the initial stage, after
few repetitions, the task will move more easily; with
continued repetitions, the task will move seini-inechani
It might be stated before we go further, that in all
cally, and, given sufficient careful repetitions, the task
of these .rcr(i:r.r the results depend largely upon the
will be performed with practically no consciousness, or
student's alvfvvcialion of rrlaxalion-corlsciousness.
as we say. automatically. The conditions are simple,
of musclesmentioneda momenta 0, viz.,
Of the two Nl'l.<
viz.: Think, proceed slowly, and make no mistakes in
first, the muscleswhich movethe ngers sidewise or pur
the initial stage.
osesoi spacing.and, second,the muscleswhich strike the
iieys into tone, the former musclesare the weaker; it were
wise, therefore, that we erfect these membersbefore we
The Real Basis of Technic
work with striking must-es"Ouething at a time" has
always been it good maxim. When one works with both
Technic
the training of nerve-lines between nerve
at the sametime on it new and diicult task
setsof IllUrsCiiH
centersthe brain being one, the principal center, while
therewill be constanttug-o!~wnr
betweenthe two set
muscles, constantexcessof friction in the plnying-machin
the other.
any muscle in the playing mechanism
ery which will communicateitself to the brain, thereby
The most natural question next is: How can one train
entirely wrong tnuscul8l' sensations in the
establishing
11.
bra
nerve-line? A \vell-known psychologist answers the
By the plan of practice just outlined we have used, at
question for us in these words: "The clearness, per
first the spacing muscles only, and since these muscles
have had full and free play,
will soon acquire their
nerve-line can be
manence and quickness with which
theynd to do only with this
desirednotions. if the problem
trained
in proportion to the attention and concen
one set of muscles,the task would be easy,indeed,but as a
matterof fact, in playing the brokenchord, the two sets 01'
tration brought to bear upon it." Infvrrst deepens at
musclesmust be em loyed. It will be perfectlyobviousthat
tention; therefore
plain to be seen that the prac
the more strenuous or violently the striking musclesare
used froin the knucklejoint (the samejoint. or pivot from
tice of using passages from pieces has an advantage
which the fingers are spaced) the more will be the inter
over the dry routine practice of the broken-chord. "In
ferencewith file spacing-Inusclcs.It will be equallyobvious
that the more lightly.the striking-musclesare used, the
the mother of Aiterttioit, and .4ttcni1'0n the
terest
less will be the interference with the spacing-muscles,
one wishes Hnlvii (or
mother of Hubii; therefore,
and,
the friction will be reducedto a mini
mum.consequently,
(Fr ction is the consideration,which all mechanics
responsive nerve-line), he should secure both the
hold as the paramountissue with regard to easeof motion,
mother and the grandmother."
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Exercisesfor Finger Articulation

Since, therefore, the spacing muscles in our task have
been comparatively well developed,and since the strik
ing muscles must be included in the process, let us pro
ceed to offer some consistent exercise designed to
assist the ngers in giving clear and accurate articula
tion to the already perfected broken-chord forms. Such
"Consistent Exercises would naturally consist of small
up and down motion, requiring the least possible con
traction of the striking muscle. and. at the same time,
as short as possible. That
stroke on the key that

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Attention an Important Factor

dissipated
upon
Attention
one tries to hold
one thing or upon one manner of practice for too long
a period; hence, the desirability of changing the mind
to new patterns (always retaining the same nger
habits) or nerve-lines are not developed when atten
very diiiicult to hold the attention to
tion lags.
one looks at the dot
black dot on white wall, but
from
from various aspects, for example, how far
the oor, the ceiling, the window casement, at what
angle
from the eye, etc., etc., the attention can be

:1

Seek First the Chief Causeof Any Diiculty

Diiculties are principally of two kinds, viz.. lateral
adjustive movements (spacing the ngers over the right
keys) and dynamic (striking the keys to produce tone).
The rst and chief diiculty in the foregoing passage
obviously lies in getting the ngers over the proper

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a.

It is always preferable to begin broken-chord study

through a tuneful or gracefully written etude, or piece,
than through the dry method of using one broken
chord form after another through the keys. After
this, it is well to use the broken-chords through the
keys, for the student should become acquainted with
the key tracks and ngerings of the various chords,
but not to the extent of hours of practice on these dry
forms alone. Much better results will come from using
passagesfrom etudes and pieces. The etude has unity,
completeness,and is graceful and tuneful, so that even
the etude carries with it far more inspiration than
the dry broken-chord forms practiced through the va
rious keys. Returning once more to Duvernoy Op. 120,
No. 4, we nd that it offers, in the right hand, the fol
lowing broken chords:

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Scauzs and chords are the material out of which

music is made. Chords may be used either sounding
together, or arpeggioed." As recently as in the music
of Scarlatti, C. P. E. Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart,
the scale passagemet the eye in nearly every line. Since
Schumann's time, the scale passage has almost dis
appeared and the chord, broken-chord, and arpeggio
have taken its place. At present, the whole music page
seems to be made up of chords, broken-chords and ar
peggios. The development of the piano tone, now four
times as robust, resonant and full of color as was the
tone of the older instruments, is the cause of this change
in the texture of music. Naturally then, since the
broken-chord and arpeggio have become the material
out of which most of our modern music is made, the
broken-chord and arpeggio should therefore receive a
considerable share of our practice. Scale study should
precede the broken-chord and arpeggio, since the scale
aids in establishing tonality and serves as excellent ear
training material. The broken-chord should also be
employed for ear-training purposes both in major and
~
minor keys.
The broken-chord should be taken up for serious
practice material about the time the student reaches
the stage of advancement where he plays pieces such
as Haydn's Allegretto in A Major, Sidney Smiths
Mountain Stream," and the etudes by Duvernoy Op.
120. Suppose we have reached etude No 4 in Duvernoy
Op. 120, the rst six measures of which areThe teacher might show the student how lightly and
gracefully the rst few measures of this etude can be
played. At once a necessity for practice has been es
tablished. for the pupil readily sees that his own at
tempts are awkward, are anything but harp-like in
their effect.