This well-known pianist and teacher's guide to sound piano technique covers tone production, fingering, pedaling, chords, sight-reading, and more. Its 63 musical excerpts include works by such masters as Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Liszt. Numerous exercises, complemented by 64 black-and-white photographs, demonstrate a variety of technical, stylistic, and musical approaches.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fine overview of pianism,
By Rachfan (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Piano Technique: Tone, Touch, Phrasing and Dynamics (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)
Philipp's "Piano Technique" provides a fine overview of the fundamentals of playing the piano. The book covers important topics such as position at the piano, arm weight, technical exercises, tone and touch, pedaling, phrasing, musical styles, and much more. There are also copies illustrations and examples from the piano repertoire.
The traditions of technique, artistry and interpretation that are handed down from one generation of great pianists to the next are of paramount importance, and will always continue to be. Pianism is not a science, nor is it much informed by the scientific method, any more than is the case with oil painting, sculpture, or theater arts; it is an aesthetic art form--a different realm altogether. Books like Josef Gat's "The Technique of Playing the Piano" that included tedious explanations of human anatomy have since been found by professors of anatomy to be rife with misapprehensions, errors, and deficient explanations. (Other than that, there is much value to be found elsewhere in his book.) Thankfully, that kind of pseudoscience or mythology has been debunked by the experts in that field. Even when anatomical information is correct, such explanations have limited practical application and value. For example, if it takes pronation of the forearm rather than supination, or requires ulnar flexion rather tha radial flexion of the hand to play one figure or another, well... then that's what it takes! Far more important to the well-being of pianists is simple but conscientious attention to the basic and proven principles of ergonomics which are becoming much better known and practiced. Philipp's book predates ergonomics as such, but to her credit, her advice on sitting properly at the instrument and properly using the playing mechanism of body, upper arm, forearm, wrist, hand and fingers in artistic piano playing is still absolutely valid and timeless. There have been, before and since,better and more in-depth books written about playing the piano, but Philipp's book still serves as a wonderful teaching tool for intermediate pianists and a good review for advanced pianists. As an accomplished pianist, for years I've collected books on piano performance and pedagogy and am pleased to have Philipp's book in my library.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Piano Technique: Tone, Touch, Phrasing and Dynamics,
By A. Red (New York City) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Piano Technique: Tone, Touch, Phrasing and Dynamics (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)
HIghly detailed, with photographs of the hand, and specific exercises to help many problems of transition, phrasing and dynamics, this book offers a wealth of sophisticated informatin for the attentive learner. You must be willing to use the finger numbering system, and try!
6 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dangerous to your health!,
By Gregory Urich (Lund Sweden) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Piano Technique: Tone, Touch, Phrasing and Dynamics (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)
This book is based on traditional piano pedagogy wherein knowledge is passed from respected master to student, from generation to generation without ever attempting to prove anything using the scientific method. After all, the proof is in the playing...right? The book contains no references to any type of statistics, scientific research or experiments. As well the reader will find no discussion of the underlying anatomy or physiology. This book abounds with advice, which contradicts the scientific conclusions of modern functional anatomy. Many exercises are presented which are meaningless without proper "how to" instructions. There may be other useful information in this book but I was only concerned with the physical aspects of playing....
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