Arm Weight, Finger Action & Octaves In Piano Technique

I happened to come across your piano technique website and was very impressed by breadth of information on the site. Your reviews about piano technique were extremely informative, logical, and convincing, especially the ones about Taubman and Lister-Sink. One point that stood out to me was your observation that Lister-Sink actually played the scale better with flat fingers than with curved fingers. Perhaps not surprisingly, Horowitz famously played passagework with low wrists and flat fingers and produced a wonderful jeu de perlé. Do you believe that flat fingers produce a better sound than curved fingers during passagework, as flattened fingers allow the entire ball of the finger- as opposed to just the tip- to touch the key? I have heard that many pianists who tried to follow Horowitz' technique had injuries, which sounds strange if Horowitz' approach is the most effecient one. In the Horowitz slow motion video that you posted, I was amazed at the insight it provided into his ocatave and scale playing. In this article , Horowitz claimed that he uses only the wrist (with the movement stopping at the wrist) to play octaves and that if he used the forearm, he would become fatigued and a harsh sound would result. However, in the slow motion video, Horowitz appears to be making huge motions from the elbow. It seems as if he wasn't accurately perceiving what he was doing during octave playing. Are you an advocate of traditional wrist octaves, as I remember you had criticzed the Taubman/Golandsky forearm approach to octaves? I was also fascinated by your discussion of arm weight and think that you did a fabulous job at debunking the Taubman rotation fallacy. When scales are played, do you think that they should be played through finger independence (the fingers moving independently of the hand and forearm) or through releasing weight of the forearm into the key? However I certainly don't advocate releasing the weight of the forearm into the key - all that does is emasculate the finger, and why would we want to? On the other hand, I have indeed taught exactly this latter technique at times, when I saw that the student was tight in the arm and needed release there big time. For example, in the Horowitz clip, do you think that his scales are played through finger independence, arm weight, or a combination of finger activity and forearm movement? If it is the third option, then that may actually be similar to the Taubman approach, as it advocates a balance of action among the fingers, hand, and forearm. I really enjoyed your website. Keep up the excellent work. I would love to see even more reviews/ technique articles. Thanks again for your really pertinent observations. Best wishes, Alan Fraser

Dear Mr. Fraser, Thank you for the response. As usual, your comments were very enlightening. "It depends on the context. Many times you also see Horowitz curling extremely (Mozart K330 for instance). But yes, the more surface area of the finger on key, the richer the sound." "They tried to follow his lead but they didn't understand the internal organization. Flat fingers creates more 'pulling' on the tendons of the forearm and you have to know how to organize yourself to minimize that increase in 'pull' and also to have the strength developed so you can do that without hurting yourself. Horowitz was incredibly strong, and that means a lot." The issue of strength is another point that Taubman completely ignores. Horowitz allegedly had very muscular hands and fingers, and I imagine that muscle mass helped prevent excessive exertion. Do you think that pianists should do muscle-building exercises away from the keyboard, or should practicing the piano be sufficient to develop muscle? "Exactly. He was subjective just like the rest of us. But that doesn't mean we should necessarily imitate what we 'see.' Perhaps if we subject ourselves to the same subjective illusion we will go farther!" "Neither. The external look is that the fingers move independently, but there is a movement of the hand and forearm through several notes that creates the phrase and the physical freedom needed for that finger independence not to become finger isolation (which would lead to all sorts of problems both physical and musical). 'However I certainly don't advocate releasing the weight of the forearm into the key - all that does is emasculate the finger, and why would we want to? 'On the other hand, I have indeed taught exactly this latter technique at times, when I saw that the student was tight in the arm and needed release there big time." I see your point. The hand and the forearm should follow the fingers, but that does not mean that there is an individual rotation on each note. "Yes, I believe it is the third option, and yes it is similar to what they advocate. I just wish they would do what they advocate!" That's true. Although Taubman advocates a balance of activity among fingers, hand, and forearm, you correctly observed that Taubman practitioners fail to address the significance of the hand's arch, which effectively destroys finger and hand activity. "You might want to visit my forum ( ), where you will find lots more of my answers and dialogues with pianists who have posed fascinating questions. And with you permission, I would like to post this valuable exchange on that forum. Would you be ok with that?" I'll definitely take a look at your website. In particular, I'll try to find more information on maintaining the correct arch of the hand. Thanks for your very perceptive "comments on my comments!" AFF