Certain Catchwords and images go a long way in developing a fluid technique.

Continuing my practice of videotaping my Thursday evening lesson, I reviewed the footage and discovered some catch words that helped me clarify ideas about technique and fluency.

While it may sound a bit outlandish to think of the piano as a "bowl of molasses," the image alone helped my adult student approach the keys with more of a delayed entry, avoiding a skimming the surface approach that never quite gets the player "grooved" or "connected into" the notes. I like the <em>volume</em> or <em>density</em> of molasses.

<a target="_blank" href="http://arioso7.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/molasses.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12728" title="molasses" width=350 src="http://arioso7.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/molasses.jpg" alt="" width="259" height="194" /></a>

So molasses slows things down, and allows for some key depth exploration without a premature release to other notes. This applies to passages in slow, fast or moderate tempo.

<strong>Fast Melody</strong>

For the rippling strings of 32nds in Allegro that can be practiced in a scale framework, the principle of attentive listening from note to note, should be framed as "fast melody." Melodic contouring blends well with a bowl of molasses even though the latter would seem to drastically slow things down.

But for most piano students who tend to race over the keys losing their breath and composure, some key<em> catchwords</em> might neutralize the frenzy.

Rather than write on and on about the molasses, I am going to feature the segment in the lesson where this image was retrieved and then applied to playing the Dominant 7th Arpeggio B, D#, F#, A in contrary motion, Thumbs at B (an octave above middle B)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRl1IBXWXII

The next video extracted from the same lesson, draws on more catchwords to aid fluidity of technique: "roll" into the scale; Don't Anticipate--Be in the here and now; think Slowly through fast passages; feel the rolling turnaround at either end of the scale, "BREATHE."

Molasses also applies here, because it creates density, and precludes the tracing paper, skimming on top of the keys touch and tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z09k7VrJGTc