Proper touch on the keys

Hayden,

You have such a beautiful touch on the piano. I have a small baby grand piano (very old refurbished Fischer) , not an electric keyboard. If I try to play too softly and the key does not go completely down, the note is lost. I thought perhaps you could share some thoughts on your techniques or what is flowing through your mind to enable you to create those lovely sounds.

Interesting question Celia.

To be honest it’s not something I consciously think of when I’m playing. I’m certainly aware of the dynamics such as varying the volume and sometimes I’ll accentuate specific notes such as alterations to bring out their ‘colour’ above the rest of the harmony.

I think it may also depend on the piano/keyboard. One of the reasons I love Roland keyboards is that the key action is very light - i’m sure @scott1 agrees as he’s also a Roland fan.

I must admit I do notice the difference when I play on a grand piano as the keys can be a lot heavier.

Perhaps @Tuomo has some advice here? Maybe he can suggest some exercises to work on tone, or playing softly without loosing the resonance of the note.

Thanks Hayden. I do have a keyboard and see a noticeable difference in it and the baby grand. I think I need to just be aware and catch when I loose a note. I guess it is all about feel and the instrument you are playing. BTW…this is off topic, but I have been working on your advanced Someone to Watch Over Me. You created a beautiful arrangement! The funny part is in measure 12 where you have the chords running up the E diminished. At first, my ears thought that I would never like it and I started to ask you for some substitute ideas. Now, I am starting to actually like it! Between practicing on it and Embraceable You, my husband walks around the house singing both of them. Also, I am anxiously awaiting Unforgettable! Thanks for all you do.

1 Like

Absolutely, I think it something that one adjusts to when playing on different instruments.

Hopefully I won’t have to learn all over again when I get myself a real piano one day :grin:

Yes it’s interesting how our ears ‘develop’ to appreciate different sounds.

I imagine it works very similar to acquired tastes with different foods.

Funny story… when my first jazz teacher was teaching me altered harmony, he said I used to wince whenever I played a b9 chord. Conversely, it’s now one of my favourite colours/tensions to add over dominant chords.

That’s awesome. I always like it when I hear my family or housemates humming/whistling the songs I have been playing.

It shows your playing has connected with them… congrats! :tada:

Yes the arrangement is 95% complete. Just working on a few small details. I’ll be recording it tomorrow or Wednesday. It’s a great tune for learning how to fill space because the original chord changes are very sparse with lots of space both melodically and harmonically.

I started arranging it as a ballad which is nice, but then realised the song needs the pulse from the stride left hand. The arrangement I’ve made has a rubato section for the final 8 bars which I like.

There’s also an interesting key change in the original where it modulates to Db Major for the second time through, and then back to F Major to finish. I wanted to include this but it makes it much more challenging to teach and play. Perhaps we can do this modulation as a separate tutorial in the future.

I’ve put a lot of work into it so I’m sure everyone will like it :smiley:

1 Like