Description:Mastering the Chopin Etudes and Other Essays contains a number of studies dealing with various aspects of the physical coordination the pianist must achieve in order to be able to use his full potential for virtuosity and musical continuity. They were written by a pianist who, during a long and distinguished career as a teacher, had searched untiringly for more effective teaching tools and had developed a unique, meaningful analysis of the nature of this coordination.
Of particular significance was her discovery that there is one common physical basis for both virtuosity and continuity. A fundamental papadox present in playing, although quite obvious, had never been recognized or dealt with before: the production of each tone on the piano is a vertical action - the keys go up and down. But, any musical progression on the piano is horizontal - going up or down the keyboard. Musical continuity requres a physical continuity which neither the fingers, the hand, nor the forearm are capable of. They can only produce repeated, stopped actions. A series of separate vertical actions will not serve to produce this physical continuity. This can only be done by a controlling activity at the shoulder joint which, being circular, permits the arm to coordinate, by means of a continous gentle pull, all the other actions of the playing mechanism.
Abby Whiteside_s analysis was the result of years of meticulous observation of the performance of great artists and the application of her findings in her teaching. Great performers, because they are so magnificently endowed by nature, rarely have any notion of what they do as they play. Their talent is for doing, not for diagnosing.
Her earlier book, Indispensables of Piano Playing presented a comprehensive statement of the principles which she uncovered. With the exception of two articles, Experiencing Music With the Piano and Flaws in Traditional Teaching of Piano all the essays in the present volume were written later, after she had achieved a new subtlety and effectiveness in teaching. The two books complement each other and will help to clarify the analysis.
