To hear the degree of exaggeration that is helpful in this exercise, click below:
384k, WAV sound file
{To jump to the next audio clip, click here}
The involvement of the ear in cantabile playing starts at the beginning of study with pieces that are loud or soft. All successful teaching in these first years involves the ear as a critical guide. Questions that are frequently asked of the student are
Through listening, students learn to match tonal colors. The study of two-note slurs is a pivotal time for my students. This study involves firm fingertips and use of arm but its success depends critically upon the ear. We focus on the "more-less" sound created by a down-up motion.
When listening for this "more-less" sound, students are actually learning to match the decay of the first note with the lighter, second note.
When students are trained to listen and evaluate from the beginning, the later study of intermediate repertoire becomes an exciting time of musical challenge. The repertoire at this level frequently calls for cantabile playing, opening the doors to exploration of musical shaping and the technique it requires. I often ask students to point out the note or measure in a phrase they think is the most important. When they play it again, trying to clarify the shape and direction of the phrase, they will usually use some arm. We might then get very detailed and analytical as we evaluate the tone quality and use of arm. These are essential lessons in which listening is the top priority. Helping students become fascinated by sound is the key to unlocking their expressive abilities at the piano.
Once students are tuned in to the beauty of their tone, extraordinary events can take place. Without pre-planning it, the student may intuitively stretch the top of a phrase. This elongating, or rubato, is a natural event in cantabile playing. It should be discovered rather than superimposed on the student. But there are ways to help lead students to such discoveries. I tend to coach rubato through singing as much as through playing, and encourage my students to sing as well. However, some adolescents are very inhibited and many students do not have vocal experiences. In these cases, simply "tah"-ing the line without pitches, or even "growling" as they play can work. They need to experience the phrase not just in their fingers but also within-in an interior, visceral place. If we were to sing, we would be aware of the music being produced internally. When we imagine this internal source of our music, our cantabile playing becomes more natural, more human, and it naturally effects the rhythmic inflection of the line.
The rhythmic demands and implications of cantabile playing are often subtle but always present. Students should always play their warm-ups with a clear rhythmic pulse. This is important not only for steadiness but to experience living through longer notes. A singer or wind player would have to be physically aware of the length of a note; a string player would be aware of bow-stroke length. At the piano, we must at least be aurally aware!
When playing this early-level warm-up, I have students sing the finger numbers, pulsing the four counts of the whole note with their voice. This way we have not only played in a steady rhythm but are aware of the length of the whole note with finger, ear and voice.
When students apply their technical studies to the repertoire the playing will need to be rhythmic. In order to prepare for this, all of their technical work should be done within a rhythmic context as well. Sometimes this work may be as straightforward as playing scales in quarter and eighth notes. At other times it may be as sophisticated as the rhythmic variety in this warm-up from Musical Fingers 2.
I find pulse to be a key rhythmic feature in successful cantabile playing. The awareness of pulse can provide both a sense of direction and a feeling of freedom which allows for expressive inflection. This is frequently achieved through the feeling of a larger pulse. The larger pulse generally gives a piece a slightly faster tempo without making it feel rushed. It affords more opportunity for rubato to occur without changing tempos because the basic pulses are further apart. To help students develop a sense of flow in a slow piece, I will often ask them to practice it at a faster tempo, and then later slow it down. "Night Clouds" by Lynn Freeman Olson (Summy-Birchard/Warner Bros.) is a good example (see example 8).
The student may be playing it securely but with no direction, feeling a steady eighth note pulse.
Playing it faster, the student is more likely to sense how the highest notes create a shape of their own. Then at a more relaxed tempo this line will come across.
We have not only gone from feeling the eighth note as the pulse to feeling the dotted quarter note; we have actually gone to an even larger pulse of one per measure.
The rhythmic requirements of cantabile playing can often be directly addressed with the student. Such was the case recently with a student studying the piece of sheet music, "Reverie" by Robert Vandall (see example 9) (Used by permission, Myklas Music Press).
The student played with a beautiful free arm and lovely tone but the syncopated melodic line had no continuity. She was able to identify that the pulse she was feeling was that of an eighth note.
She played it again with a larger quarter note pulse. Now she was able to hear and describe the way in which the larger pulse gave the melody direction and a sense of tonal consistency:
The development of students' cantabile playing is a long process that starts at the very beginning; it cannot be forced, but must be nurtured. There is a vast supply of materials on the market that provide rich and varied opportunities to nurture cantabile development. Regardless of whatever materials we use, our main goal must be an awareness of tone production techniques and endlessly attentive ears on the part of our students. They need to hear more than just themselves making music. A teacher's own examples in performance and in lessons, or the examples of others via recordings and live performances, can often communicate more than any words.
The study of cantabile playing is a study of true artistry at the piano. Young students can be taught to play expressively when their studies focus them on not just the physical aspects of playing but also on the resulting sound.
CRAIG SALE is Editor of KEYBOARD
COMPANION's Music Reading department. He directs the Preparatory
and Community Piano Program at Concordia University in River Forest,
IL, and is the co-author of The Music Tree: Activities 3 (Summy-Birchard/
Warner Bros.).