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Bruce Brubaker on all things piano

Stay Down

May 16, 2011 by Bruce Brubaker

Playing for me in a recent masterclass, a pianist performed Liszt’s etude “Wild Hunt.” At the end of two measures of melody (m. 60), he raised his wrists immediately after playing the last note in the bar, releasing his fingers from the keys — although the notated duration of this sound is the longest in the line.

WildeJagdAJ.jpg

The piano is a device that never came with a set of instructions. In a sense, musicians are always making how-to guides. And there are a lot of ways to play the piano. The instrument is a tool, a means of making sounds, a machine used for communicating in music.

It’s often confusing to encounter a keyboardist whose physical playing is contrary to our own, and yet hear that the musical results may be plausible.

There’s a lot of speculation — even inspired speculation — about piano playing. A few researchers have tried to find out more, about how piano tone is produced, or a piece committed to memory. When it comes to physical piano playing, we still know quite little. Ideas from sports medicine and the new area of performing arts medicine have made fairly small impact. In music, a lot of teaching is based on received opinion.

There’s a long heritage of piano teachers who had strong impact: Franz Liszt, Tobias Matthay, Theodor Leschetizky, Anton and Nicholas Rubinstein, Heinrich Neuhaus, Rosina Lhevinne, Isabelle Vengerova…

Today, there are quite a few well-known teachers who worked with Dorothy Taubman and who use her ideas about avoiding physical tension and injury. It can’t be desirable to play with excessive physical tension.

But on the question of whether the wrist comes up or stays down, I prefer to consider the musical phrase. I do release the wrist (slightly upwards) at the end of every slur, or phrasing tie. Pianists tend to be less aware of long notes than other musicians. Keeping the wrist down through a long note is one small way that linear connection and overlapping phrase designs can be attended to, experienced, and heard.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Dorothy, fingering, instruction manual, Kaplinsky, legato, Leschetizky, Liszt, Matthay, piano pedagogy, Taubman, Tobias, treatise, Veda, wrist, Yoheved

Bruce Brubaker

Recordings like the new American piano music albums I make for ECM, InFiné, Bedroom Community, and Arabesque reach millions of listeners, and break through some old divisions of high culture/pop, or art/entertainment. My fans are listening to Billie Eilish, The Weeknd — even the occasional Mozart track! Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube are allowing music lovers to discover music they could not have found so easily before. Live performances begin to reflect what’s happening online. My performances occur in classical venues like the Philharmonie in Paris, the Barbican in London, at La Roque d’Anthéron, at festivals such as Barcelona’s Sónar and Nuits Sonores in Brussels, and such nightclubs as New York’s (le) Poisson Rouge. Read More…

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BB on the web

“Glassforms” with Max Cooper at Sónar

“Glass Etude” on YouTube

demi-cadratin review of Brubaker solo concert at La Roque d’Anthéron

“Classical music dead? Nico Muhly proves it isn’t” — The Telegraph‘s Lucy Jones on my Drones & Piano EP

Bachtrack review of Brubaker all-Glass concert

“Brubaker recital proves eclectic, hypnotic, and timeless” — Harlow Robinson’s Boston Globe review of my Jordan Hall recital

“Simulcast” with Francesco Tristano on Arte

Bruce Brubaker hosts 4 weeks of “Hammered!” on WQXR — “Something Borrowed,” “Drone,” “Portal,” “The Raw and the Cooked”

“Onstage, a grand piano and an iPod” — David Weininger’s story with video by Dina Rudick

“Bruce Brubaker on Breaking Down Boundaries” — extensive audio interview at PittsburghNewMusicNet.com

“Heavy on the Ivories” — Andrea Shea’s story for WBUR about Bruce Brubaker’s performances and recording of “The Time Curve Preludes” by William Duckworth

“Feeding Those Young and Curious Listeners” — Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times on the first anniversary of the Poisson Rouge

“The Jewel in the Fish” — Harry Rolnick on Bruce Brubaker at the Poisson Rouge

“The Post-Postmodern Pianist” — Damian Da Costa profiles Bruce Brubaker in The New York Observer

Bruce Brubaker questioned at NewYorkPianist.net

“Finding the keys to the heart of Jordan Hall” — Joan Anderman in the Boston Globe on the search for a new concert grand piano

“Hearing and Seeing” — Philip Glass speaks with Bruce Brubaker and Jon Magnussen, Princeton, Institute for Advanced Study

Bruce Brubaker about Messiaen’s bird music, NPR, “Here and Now”

“I Hear America: Gunther Schuller at 80” — notes and programs for concert series, New England Conservatory, Harvard University, Boston Symphony Orchestra

“A Conversation That Never Occurred About the Irene Diamond Concert,” Juilliard Journal

Bruce Brubaker plays music by Alvin Curran at (le) Poisson Rouge

Bruce Brubaker

Recordings such the new American piano music albums I make for ECM, InFiné, and Arabesque reach many listeners, and seem to break through some old divisions of high culture/pop, or art/entertainment. My fans are listening to Cardi B, Childish Gambino, Ariana Grande — even the occasional Mozart track! Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube are allowing music lovers to discover music they could not have encountered so easily in the past. Live performances begin to reflect what’s happening online: this year I play at the International Piano Festival at La Roque d’Anthéron, traditional concert venues in Los Angeles, and Boston — as well as nightclubs in Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Lyon, Geneva, and New York’s (le) Poisson Rouge.

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