Piano Technique: Drill and Teaching Pieces

Piano playing involves developing the ability to learn keyboard technique. In the past, this technique evolved only through mechanical drills and technical etudes. These classical exercises are designed to give control of the movements necessary to play, to increase facility in playing the various figurations found in piano music, to develop power and speed, and to establish foundational control for dynamic and rhythmic variety in piano performance.

However, the mere mechanics of playing, without spirit and expression, is not widely accepted as the way to musicianly performance. An extensive literature of teaching pieces has evolved, through which the student can acquire technique while at the same time he studies selections more or less interesting musically. Most teachers now depend largely upon this type of material for the technical development of the student, while others make use of the exercise and etude literature as an integral part of their teaching scheme.

Some teachers have come to feel that technical drill may be entirely abandoned in favor of a progressive list of more varied material. Their reasoning?

1. only a comparatively few teachers have acquired real skill in obtaining the essential technical elements from the pieces and organizing them into a well rounded system of development
2. the teacher is restricted musically in the selection of pieces if it is necessary to depend on this material alone for technical material
3. it is hard to find selections which contain all the necessary material for comprehensive technical training of the student
4. while this procedure has carried many students successfully through certain elementary stages of development, sooner or later there has come a time when progress stops, and the student, lacking training under a comprehensive plan, abandons his pianistic ambitions in the face of difficulty and demands involved in further pianistic advancement.

In the final analysis, though, practice of exacting technique cannot be avoided by a piano student or teacher. A good pianist must have training which includes all the different elements of a well rounded technique. Advanced pianism includes both artistry and expression, and the necessity of playing exacting technique which the pianist uses according to his artistic taste and judgment. It is common for teachers, even the most eminent, to exaggerate certain phases of musicology at the expense of others.

The superb control over technique that results from classical drilling is incomparable. Thus, both classical mechanical drilling and creativity must be included in the course of teaching piano for the student to become an accomplished pianist.

To find a piano teacher NJ, contact Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio.