Here comes the jello again. I thought I was the only one swimming around in it until I found the good company of Irina Gorin, piano teacher and author, who served what amounted to a jello substitute at her piano lessons. She had packed away a small tub of colorful putty that she dispensed to her very beginning students when they occasionally pounded the keyboard like it was concrete. Ouch! The impact alone should have stopped them in their tracks.

Tracks could have been another tone booster, if  thought of as soft tracks of silky snow, before the meltdown or freeze! Better yet, Molasses would work wonders for an image starved pianist, without all the artificial coloring.

With a collection of volume enhanced images, a pianist could milk the piano for its singing tone while sculpting phrases par excellence.

The music of Debussy is sampled below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BgC7EjMHJ0

Following this musical snippet, I'd skimmed the surface of a Scarlatti sonata, replacing jello with yet another image. Bouncing through light and lively staccato in K. 159, I imagined my springboard trampoline fueling my duetto in 3rds, 4ths and 6ths as it spilled into a shimmering trill.

After a fanciful display, I shifted my landscape in the first section of Mozart's Sonata, K. 545 in C Major.

All I could think of was beautifully spun out operatic lines that the composer embraced. As a singer, first and foremost, I would shape phrases with the assistance of a supple wrist. Molasses and jello would support an outpouring without intrusive accents. 

***
Mental images are always helpful to a pianist. Best integrated into a program of daily practicing that is mindful and phrase attentive, they fuel the imagination and allow the spirit to soar.

Related Links:

<a target="_blank" href="http://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/piano-technique-producing-a-beautiful-singing-tone-with-jello-as-an-image/">http://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/piano-technique-producing-a-beautiful-singing-tone-with-jello-as-an-image/</a>

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<a target="_blank" href="http://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/the-art-of-piano-playing-is-about-breathing-and-phrasing-videos/">http://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/the-art-of-piano-playing-is-about-breathing-and-phrasing-videos/</a>

<a target="_blank" href="http://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/more-ideas-about-piano-technique-and-mental-imagery-playing-into-a-bowl-of-molasses/">http://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/more-ideas-about-piano-technique-and-mental-imagery-playing-into-a-bowl-of-molasses/</a>

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