How To Make Your Piano Playing More Interesting

Good morning. This is Duane and today I’d like to talk about using dynamics and rubato in your piano playing. Rubato is a kind of a stopping and start piano playing style but it lends itself very, very well to thoughtful piano pieces. That could be a balled of any sort. I’m going to pick an old hymn and I’m just demonstrate and what I’m talking about.

Okay I stop and started as you can see that and that’s called Rubato style and it lends like I say, it lends itself to a very thoughtful feeling. The story by the way of “it is well with my soul” and if you don’t know it, it is worth your time to look it up, it’s a fascinating story. It was a Chicago business name … he was a lawyer actually named Horatio Stafford and in 1870 or so, his wife and his four daughters (I think they are all daughters) were crossing the Atlantic going to England and the storm came up and another boat ran into them. Anyway it sank and almost everyone in the ship was lost including his four daughters. His wife was rescued and when she got to England, she wired him back simply with the words “saved alone” and of course he know exactly what that meant.

Anyway, the Chicago fire just happened a few years before and they’ve lost most of everything then, but he knew he had to go over be with his wife. He got on a steamer and crossed the Atlantic and when he got that point where his four daughters died, he wrote this, he penned this song “It Is Well With My Soul” and if you can imagine losing four kids and then writing a hymn – that almost boggles the mind. I’m not sure I could do that.

In any case, it’s a very wonderful old hymn and it deserve to be played thoughtfully like that. Now, I want to describe what I was doing here. My right hand was playing for the most part and my left hand arpeggio, we had two different techniques and that’s called a hand over arpeggio right. Play it … the chord is C, I play C, G, and then swing my thumb to E and then my fingers over to that and I pause there. Let’s try it again.

Yeah. Kind of pause before the next arpeggio which is the A minor. Before the next arpeggio which is D minor. Before the next arpeggio which is G7. Let’s take it that far.

Yeah, I was using thirds but I was also offsetting my chords. Something like that. In other words, whatever chord it is, play the two top notes and the one bottom note or vice versa and it just adds to the feeling a little bit. Here the tempo slow down and maybe pick up again.

Now, it’s not only stop start but notice the dynamics vary a great deal. It’s very thoughtful at first and then it builds up and then it lets down and lot of riding and you can do that in all your playing by the way. You use dynamics. People don’t use dynamics alone enough. They tend to play all the same volume, same level of loudness or softness. My point is to vary the speed, speed up and slow down and to vary the dynamics.

Well, just a hint or two, if you like this sort of thing, come on over to playpiano.com and sign up for our free piano tips. You will get something like this most everyday and I think you’ll enjoy it. Come on over and join us. Thanks. Bye-bye for now.

Here is the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbEwkLou6TQ&feature=youtu.be