Piano Playing Articulation

Piano Playing Articulation Note By Note

Hi, this is Duane, and this is more good stuff you really ought to know. Today we are going to look atÂ piano playing articulation. There’s so many things in music as in any field that you really need to know to make yourself a complete musician or piano player. Just as in the field of mechanics or the field of medicine or in the field of basketball, or whatever field you’re talking about, there’s a zillion individual little subjects and articulation is one of those subjects. Articulation means in music or in piano playing the same thing that it dose in speech, speaking distinctly, or in music of course it means playing distinctly, so that each note can be heard, not all mushed together, in other words.

If I talked to you like this, it’s one thing for you to understand what I’m saying but if I speak to you like this, distinctly, so that you can hear every word and I make every word distinctly, then I am articulating. In piano playing, if I articulate clearly, my playing is a lot cleaner than if I slur things together. Now there’s a place for slurring, don’t misunderstand me, and you can be artificially articulate. That’s not desirable but I’m talking about generally clean playing. I’m sure you understand. You can go to [inaudible 00:01:25] on any subject, can’t you, and ride a hobby horse right off the end of the world because you don’t think about anything else except that one thing. I’m not arguing that at all. I’m just saying that to play cleanly is a virtue. To make it your life goal is not. Just one of many things you need to consider.

Let me play a little bit of “Spinning Song,” you probably know it. It’s a great classic. What if I went like this? You see, (slurring sound) is very much like (mumbling sound). It just, everything runs in together. That tells you two things. One, it tells you that you may be playing something too rapidly if you can avoid doing that. If you find yourself doing that, then you need to slow down, to a point where you can articulate clearly.

That may define your tempo for you, and that’s good. Tempos needs to be defined according to the individual skill of the player Some people are gifted with extremely quick reactions. I mean, they’re like point guards in basketball. They’re the Magic Johnson, the quick fiery darts to the basket, and other people are slower and so they’re the power forwards or whatever. I’m more of a power forward. I’m not gifted with quick reactions, but that’s okay. You take what’s given you and you make the best of it.

Let’s try “Spinning Song” together about like so, and when you get to the right hand, those four notes, concentrate on playing them distinctly. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, not (piano playing). Hear the difference? It helps to lift your fingers, and so on and so forth.

Just one of the many good stuffs you really ought to know. Thanks for being with me. We’ll see you next month. Bye.

Click on this link to watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqdlVW8XY6M&feature=youtu.be

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