Czerny Piano Letters.pdf

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Czerny's Letters on the Art of Playing the Piano

First Rudiments of the Piano.

When I, some years ago, had the pleasure of being personally acquainted with your family, I discovered in

you so decided a talent for music, that I am rejoiced to hear you are now really about to devote yourself to

the delightful art of playing the pianoforte. Your memory, at that time, easily retained any agreeable melody

which you heard; you manifested a natural feeling for time and musical expression; and, added to this, your

delicate fingers and hands possessed all the natural qualities so necessary for playing the pianoforte -

flexibility, quickness of movement, and lightness, without being either too weak or too stiff.

So decided a disposition and inclination for this fine art could not, in truth, remain long dormant; for no art is

more noble, nor more surely indicative of general mental cultivation, than music. By it we can command, not

only for one's self, but for many others, a dignified and appropriate amusement; and, where great progress

has been made, we also insure a degree of distinction in the world, which is as agreeable to the amateur as

to the professional artist.

The first principals, namely, a knowledge of the keys and the notes, are the only really tedious and

unpleasant points in learning music. When you have once conquered them, you will every day experience

more and more amusement and delight in continuing you studies.

Consider the matter as if you were for a time compelled to wend you way among somewhat tangled an

thorny bushes, in order to arrive at last at a charming prospect, and a spot always blooming in vernal beauty.

The best remedy against this disagreeable necessity is, to endeavor to fix these preliminary subject on your

memory as firmly and quickly as possible. Such pupils as manifest from the very outset, a desire and love for

the thing, and who strongly and rationally apply their memories to the matter, will acquire a perfect

knowledge of the keys and notes in a few weeks; while other, frightened at the apparent tediousness of the

acquisition often lose several months in attaining the same object. Which, then of these two ways is the

better?

Before anything else, I earnestly entreat you to acquire a graceful and appropriate position when sitting at

the pianoforte. The seat which you use must be just so high, that the elbows, when hanging down freely,

may be a very little less elevated than the upper surface of the keys; and if your feet should not reach the

ground, have a dwarf stool or ottoman made of a proper height to place them upon. You must always seat

yourself exactly facing the middle of the keyboard, and at such a distance from it that the tips of the elbows

may be a little nearer to the keys than the shoulders.

Equally important is a graceful position and carriage of the head and upper part of the chest; it must neither

be stiff nor bent.

It is not merely that an awkward position is disagreeable and ridiculous, but it also impedes, if not prevents,

the development of a free and elegant style of playing.

The fore part of the arm (from the elbow to the fingers) should form a perfectly straight horizontal line; for the

hand must neither rise upwards like a bell, nor be bent so as to slope downwards.

The fingers are to be so bent, that the tips of them, together with that of the thumb, when extended

outwards, may form one right line, and so that the keys may always be struck with the soft and fleshly tips of

the fingers, and that neither the nails nor the flat surface of the fingers shall touch the keys. In striking the

black keys, the fingers must be stretched out a little more; but even in this case they must always remain

sufficiently bent.

The percussion on the keys is effected solely by the fingers, which, without any actual blow, must press

each key firmly down; and in doing this, neither the hand nor the arm must be allowed to make any

unnecessary movements. The thumb should always strike the key with its external narrow surface, and in so

doing it must be but very little bent.

The white keys are to be struck on the middle of their anterior broad surfaces, and the black keys pretty

close to their nearest extremities or ends.

You must take great care that you do not strike any key sideways or obliquely; as otherwise, an contiguous

and wrong key may chance to be touched, and in music, nothing is worse than producing wrong sounds.

While on finger strikes, the other fingers must be kept close to the keys, but always bent, and posed quite

freely in the air; for we must not touch any key before the moment in which it is to be struck.

The most important of the fingers is the thumb ; it must never be allowed to hang down below the key-board;

but, on the contrary, it should always be held over the keys in such a way that its tip may be elevated a little

higher than the upper surface of the black keys; and is must strike from this position.

To observe all these rules exactly, it is requisite that the elbows should never be too distant from the body;

and that the arms, from the shoulder downwards, should hang freely, without being pressed against the

body.

The knowledge of the notes is a mere affair of memory; and for every note, you must endeavor to find and

strike the proper key, on the instant and without the least hesitation. In music this constitutes what is called

reading the notes; and when you shall have acquired this readiness, you will have overcome the most

difficult thing which elementary objects in music will be likely to present to you.

At first you will naturally learn only the notes in the treble clef; and for this purpose we may employ the

following means:-

First. When you look at a note, you must name it aloud, and then seek for and strike the key which belongs

to it.

Secondly. When you strike at hazard any white key on the treble side of the kay-board, you must name it

aloud, and seed directly for the note belonging to it.

Thirdly. After having struck any white key at hazard, you must describe aloud, in words, what line or what

space it represents.

Fourthly. You must often play through, slowly, some of the easiest pieces for beginners, note by note, and

with great attention, naming each note as you proceed.

Fifthly. I must also recommend you to adopt the following expedient: since you are already much advanced

in writing, you must learn to write music. The little trouble that this will cost, you will find amply recompensed

by great advantages. Notes are much easier to write than letters; and, if you daily devote a quarter of an

hour to this task, in a couple of weeks you will become sufficiently expert at it.

Your teacher will give you the instructions requisite for this purpose; and when you have been in this way

accustomed to place the notes as they come, exactly on or between the lines, copy out daily one of the

easiest elementary lessons, and then write in letter over each note its proper denomination; after which, play

the piece over slowly.

When, in this way, you have learned to know perfectly all the degrees in the treble clef, and are able to play

slowly, but correctly, with both hands, all those little pieces in my School, which are written for both hands in

the treble clef, then take the bass notes, and proceed with them just in the same manner.

You must practise each piece, paying the strictest attention to the fingering indicated, till you are able to

execute it without stopping or stumbling. Each day you should read through a couple of fresh little pieces, to

accustom the eye and the fingers to the various and ever new passages which are formed by means of the

notes.

At first, after each note, we must also look at the key which is to be struck; but afterwards, when we have

attained a tolerable certainty in finding the keys, it is better to fix the eye on the notes rather than on the

keys.

And now allow me in this letter to offer this last very important remark: the best knowledge of the notes

avails us very little, if, at the same time, the fingers do not begin to develop that degree of flexibility which is

requisite for striking the keys, and for playing in general. I, therefore, most earnestly recommend you to

practise daily, with untiring diligence and the greatest attention, five-finger exercises in both hands, which

your instructor will explain to you, in order that your fingers may speedily acquire that pliability,

independence, and volubility, which are absolutely necessary to playing.

Do not be alarmed at the little trouble and application that this may require; try three or four times every day,

for at least a quarter of an hour each time, to play through the exercises with attention. In fact, it is as

impossible to play the piano-forte well with stiff and untractable fingers, as to dance well with stiff and

untractable feet. Volubility of finger is one of the chief requisites is pianoforte playing.

It is very proper that your teacher gives you an hour's lesson every day. If, in addition to this, you daily

dedicate another hour - or, if possible, two hours - to practising by yourself, you will in a few months have

forever conquered all that is difficult or tedious in the elementary branches of playing; and you will each day

see augmented the pleasure which the delightful art of music so richly bestows on its votaries.

Czerny's Letters on the Art of Playing the Piano

Two Months Later.

On Touch, Tone, and the Mode of treating the Pianoforte.

I have just received your welcome letter, and learn from it that you have already made considerable

progress in reading the letters, and that you are able to play several of the first and easiest little pieces,

somewhat slowly perhaps, buy still intelligibly.

Continue daily to decipher a couple of new little pieces, and at the same time to practise still more those

which you have already learned, so that these latter ones may go off quicker and quicker, and that you may

each week study at least two fresh pieces. For, as you have an earnest wish to attain to a high degree of

excellence in pianoforte-playing you must look upon all that has been given to you as yet only as a means to

that end, and, indeed, as that means which will conduct to this end as quickly and as agreeably as possible.

I could not refrain from laughing a little, if I may be allowed to tell you so, at your complaining to me how

much your master vexed and tormented you with finger exercises, with rules relating to touch, to the position

of the hands, to clearness, volubility, &c.

"Ah!" exclaim you, in a manner quite touching, "must all this really be so?"

Yes, such is indeed the case; and here I cannot assist you. Your teacher is quite right in being so strict as to

all these points, and I will explain the reason why. From every musical instrument we may produce either a

fine tone or a detestable one, according as we handle it. The same excellent violin which, in the hands of a

clever player, sounds so delightfully, will, when handled by a clumsy person, yield disagreeable sounds. It is

the same with the pianoforte. If it is not properly handled by the player, or if we merely thump and bang the

keys, the best instrument will sound hard and unpleasant. On the other hand, if we employ too little force, or

do not know how to use this power in a proper manner, the tone will be poor and dull, and the performance

unintelligible, and without soul or expression.

The interior mechanism of the keys is such that the strings will only sound well when we, -

First. Strike each key perpendicularly; that is straight downwards, and exactly in the middle, and therefore

not sideways nor obliquely.

Secondly. When, after the percussion, each key is so firmly pressed down as to cause the full tone of the

instrument to be audible.

Thirdly. When, before the percussion, we do not raise the finger too high; as, otherwise, along with the tone

there will be heard the blow on the key.

Fourthly. When the hand and arm, even when striking with considerable force, do not make any jumping,

chopping, or oscillating movement; for you will find that the fingers cannot possible play pleasantly and

tranquilly when the hands and arms are unsteady.

Fifthly and lastly. When the player observes all these rules in rapid runs, or even in skips and extensions as

strictly as in slow and quiet passages.

All the finger exercises, and particularly the scales , have no other end than to accustom the fingers to the

application of these rules so thoroughly, that the player shall practise all that he studies in future strictly

according to the principles we have given.

" Ah! the scales, " you write to me: " that is truly a tedious story! Are these things then really as necessary as

my teacher says?"

Yes, these scales are the most necessary point of all , not only for beginners, but even for pupils who are

much advanced; and, indeed, the most expert players do and must constantly have recourse to and practise

them. Permit me to demonstrate this to you, as I know that you have a good understanding, and are fond of

reflecting.

You know already that the passing of the thumb under the other fingers, and of the three middle fingers over

the thumb, is absolutely necessary, and that it is the only means by which we are enabled to strike a long

series of keys quickly one after the other.

But this passing of the thumb and fingers, even in the most rapid passages, must be effected in a manner so

natural, equal, and unlabored, that the hearer shall not be able to distinguish the smallest interruption or

inequality. This, however, is almost the greatest difficulty in pianoforte playing; and it is possible only when

neither the arm nor the hand makes the smallest movement upwards or sideways, and when the joints of all

the fingers attain gradually and by long practice so great a degree of flexibility and address, that in a rapid

run over the key-board one is almost tempted to think that the player has at least fifty fingers on each hand.

To attain this highly necessary property, there is no other means than the most diligent, uninterrupted daily

practice of the scales in all the keys.

But these scales have many other various uses. There are few musical compositions in which they are not

introduced by the author in some shape or other. In every piece, whether written to-day or one hundred

years ago, they are the principal means by which every passage and every melody is formed. The diatonic

scales or the chords broken into arpeggios, you will every where find employed innumerable times.

You will now easily imagine what an advantage it gives a player when he is perfectly acquainted, in all the

keys, with these FUNDAMENTAL PASSAGES, from which so many others are derived, and what a

command over the entire key-board, and what an easy insight into any musical piece, he gains thereby.

Farther, no property is more necessary and important to the player than a well-developed flexibility,

lightness, and volubility of the fingers., This cannot be acquired in any way so quickly as by the practice of

the scales. For, if we were to try to attain those qualities by the merely studying of different musical

compositions, we should spend whole years to accomplish our purpose. Many beautiful pieces require to be

executed in a very quick degree of movement, and with great volubility of finger. But how tiresome and

detestable would not these same pieces sound, if played slow, stiff, and unequal! And even those

compositions which are slow on the whole, still contain many occasional runs and embellishments which

require great rapidity of finger. All these he has already conquered who is able to play the scales well and

with sufficient quickness.

At present you cannot form an idea of the beauty and effect which is produced by a pure, clear, rapid, and

strictly equal execution of such runs; they are musical rows of pearls; and many great artists are more

particularly distinguished on account of their peculiar excellence in the performance of them. You will no

doubt have already remarked, that correct fingering is a very important part of pianoforte playing, and one

which costs every pupil a good deal of labor. Now, the scales contain all the principal rules of fingering, and

they are in themselves sufficient, in almost all cases, to show the pupil the right path. What do you say to all

these advantages? Is it not well worth the while to occupy yourself seriously with these same tiresome

scales?

I must now till you in what way you ought to proceed to do this. For, if studied in a wrong manner, the scales

may prove as injurious as they are capable of being serviceable when properly practised. You know that the

five fingers are by no means equal to each other in natural strength. Thus, for example, the thumb is much

stronger than any of the other fingers; the first finger is much stronger that the little finger; and the third

finger, on the contrary, is, with almost every person, the weakest of all. The pianist , however, must know

now to employ these various degrees of power, so that in playing the scales all the fingers may strike their

appropriate keys with perfect equality of strength ; for the scales sound well only when they are played in

every respect with the most exact equality.

This equality is threefold ; namely, - First. Equality of strength. No one note ought to sound in the smallest

degree louder than another, whether it be struck with the thumb, or the first, second, third, or little finger.

Secondly. Equality in point of quickness.

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