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    Relaxation Studies In The Muscular Discriminations Required For Touch, Agility And Expression In Pianoforte Playing
    Relaxation Studies In The Muscular Discriminations Required For Touch, Agility And Expression In Pianoforte Playing
    Relaxation Studies In The Muscular Discriminations Required For Touch, Agility And Expression In Pianoforte Playing
    Ebook318 pages3 hours

    Relaxation Studies In The Muscular Discriminations Required For Touch, Agility And Expression In Pianoforte Playing

    By Tobias Matthay

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    “Relaxation Studies” is a 1908 work by English pianist Tobias Matthay. It concentrates on some of the fundamental aspects of playing the piano, namely fingering techniques and muscular training, making it suitable for beginners and those looking to hone their existing skills. This volume is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in learning the piano, and it would make for a great addition to collections of allied literature. Contents include: “The Chief Muscular Tests and Other Permanent Daily Studies”, “Feeling or 'Balancing' exercises”, “Hand and Finger”, “Additional Hints as to Acquiring the Required Freedom”, “The aiming Exercises”, “Description”, “The Throw-off Exercises”, “The Preliminary Study of the Throw-Off Exercises”, etc. Tobias Augustus Matthay (1858 – 1945) was an English pianist, composer, and teacher. He was taught composition while at the Royal Academy of Music by Arthur Sullivan and Sir William Sterndale Bennett, and he was instructed in the piano by William Dorrell and Walter Macfarren. Other notable works by this author include: “The Act Of Touch In All Its Diversity: An Analysis And Synthesis Of Pianoforte Tone Production” (1903), “The First Principles of Pianoforte Playing (1905)” and “Relaxation Studies” (1908). Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateMay 31, 2013
    ISBN9781473386556
    Relaxation Studies In The Muscular Discriminations Required For Touch, Agility And Expression In Pianoforte Playing

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      Relaxation Studies In The Muscular Discriminations Required For Touch, Agility And Expression In Pianoforte Playing - Tobias Matthay

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      RELAXATION STUDIES.

      PART I.

      DAILY EXERCISES.

      PART I.

      The Chief Muscular Tests and Other Daily Studies.

      PREAMBLE: THIS, the First Part of these Studies or Exercises, is the most important one. All the Studies contained therein, should certainly be adopted as DAILY PRACTICE by all players, whether adepts of beginners. When no piano is available, they may all be practised (in a more or less modified form) on a table, or better still upon some object, a few inches high, and placed upon the executant’s knees. Sometimes, indeed, it is found even more useful and effective in the earlier stages of learning, to practise them thus, than at the instrument itself.

      The scope of these first four sets of exercises is, roughly, as follows:

      The first three of these sets of exercises have already been cursorily explained in The Act of Touch and in First Principles.* They are now more fully described, and details as to their practice and mastery are here given in addition.

      * Chapter XVIII of The Act of Touch is devoted to the explanation of their application, and they are also noted on pages 17 and 77 of First Principles.

      SET I.

      BALANCING OR FREEING EXERCISES.

      FOR THE ELIMINATION OF CONTRARY-EXERTIONS IN FINGER AND HAND ACTION.

      THIS exercise forms the first of the Three Muscular Tests mentioned in the explanatory books, to free the fingers, hand and wrist vertically from all conflicting and nullifying exertions. It may be practised as an exercise either at the Piano or away from it, and may also be employed during performance as a test for freedom.

      PURPOSE:—A means of acquiring and retaining freedom during the required exertions of the finger and hand, by eliminating all contrary exertions from the required exertions. That is:—this exercise is designed to teach us and remind us how to use the down-exertions of the finger and hand unimpeded by any exertion of the corresponding up-muscles. The freedom thus gained enables us properly to execute the Act of Resting, and this again renders possible the attainment of accuracy in the application of the Muscular-sense, and it is this, finally, which renders possible the acquisition of accuracy in technical response to the musical wish—in a word, accuracy in musical expression.*

      DESCRIPTION of the Freeing or Balancing Exercises:

      The Exercise or Test takes two forms: A and B. The first form is for the purpose of freeing the hand, and the second form is for freeing the fingers:

      Fig. 1.

      a)

      Showing position of the wrist, fully raised as required in Form A of Exercise I.

      b)

      Showing position of wrist, fully lowered, as required in the same exercise.

      FORM A: For Wrist-freedom:—

      This takes the form of a slow, gentle, continuous up-and-down swaying movement of the wrist-joint; the hand lying loosely upon the keys at their surface-level (or upon the edge of a table, &c.) supported thereon by all the five fingers. The weight must remain unaltered throughout this swaying motion, and the finger-tips should remain where first placed.

      FORM B: For Finger-freedom:—

      This takes the form of a gentle and continuous rolling and unrolling of the fingers upon themselves.

      The weight here again remains constantly of the same lightness, and the fingertips remain on same spots.

      Fig. 2.

      a)

      Showing position of the fingers un-rolled as required for Form B of Exercise I.

      b)

      The same, fully rolled up as required in this form of Exercise I.

      When either of these two forms is employed as AN EXERCISE, the movements should be as ample as possible; but when these same movements are employed DURING PERFORMANCE, as a test for freedom, &c., then these movements should gradually be reduced to the smallest compass compatible with their utility.

      Both forms of this exercise may be practised at the Piano, or upon a table; or also upon a book or other object, placed upright upon the knees.

      FURTHER DIRECTIONS for Form A, the Wrist-freeing Test or Exercise:

      Do not hold the hand down upon the keys; it must lie upon them of its own weight The up muscles (raising muscles) must be so perfectly passive, that if the hand is slid off the edge of the keyboard, it will hang absolutely limply from the wrist. If the hand be left as loose as this it will lie supported upon the keys without these going down—they will remain at their normal level. The fingers, being bent into a well-curved position, sustain the weight of the hand at its knuckles, and the other end of the hand (the wrist-end of it) of course remains supported by the arm at the wrist-joint. The arm itself should meanwhile be in its self-supported condition—balanced in space, just as required for the first and second Species of Touch-formation—and as explained in the Act of Touch and in First Principles.

      The elbow should be in the position normal to it when playing, either level with the keys, or slightly lower.

      Take one or two seconds of time to complete each gentle up-and-down (swaying) motion of the wrist-joint. Be sure to do so without any jerking or sudden action. The movement should be continuous, almost indeed a mere floating up and down of the wrist as it were. The weight felt to be resting upon the keys (or other object) must neither decrease nor increase during this movement. It will remain unaltered, provided you really let the hand lie freely upon the keys. If you exert the hand ever so slightly during this light Resting, or allow the arm to become a little less perfectly self-supported, or if you stiffen either the finger or the hand, in either of these cases the keys will at once warn you of your error, for they will then go down and sound.

      Remember, there must be absolutely no restraint whatever during these movements.

      FURTHER DIRECTIONS for Form B, the Finger-freeing Exercise or Test:

      Here the hand and fingers are placed upon the keys much in the same way as in the first form of this exercise. But instead of moving the wrist, you must now sway the fingers themselves backwards and forwards, in order to test their freedom from contrary-exertion. To accomplish this, place the whole of the finger-tips (in the normal playing-position) upon five adjacent keys; or place them upon a table, or other surface. Gently move the elbow forward and then backward again, while the finger-tips continue to rest on the places thus first chosen. These movements of the elbow will cause the fingers (by their front two phalanges) to roll up as it were, and again to unroll into their first position. The process being repeated as often as necessary, until the fingers are felt to be perfectly freed from all contrary exertion on the part of their up muscles—those lying across the knuckles on their upper

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