Piano keys are made of wood that’s weighted with metal, and faced with plastic in place of what used to be ivory. They are levers. How exactly a musician touches these sticks may or may not alter the physical sound the piano makes.<\/p>\n
The cultivation of legato — the binding together of successive tones produced with flexible wrist — is an important aspect of classical piano training.<\/p>\n
Some of us wonder about the science of legato, of what we teach and do. How is it that flexible-wrist-resilient-fingers playing is causing the black box to yield the precious sound elixir? Maybe it’s our perception of sound that’s altered with these carefully cultivated gestures? (In helping students, I believe it’s important to listen and not watch as they work on this technique.)<\/p>\n
I’ve prescribed playing on a kitchen sponge<\/a> to discover the combined physical sensation of resistance and giving way that is legato. A padded chair seat will do.<\/p>\n![\"BeuysAJ.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/sponge#\/media\/File:Sponge-viscose.jpg\")
<\/a>Perhaps if piano keys were just made with upholstered key tops? Of course our fingers are themselves “padded.” An awareness of the sensation of their give, a physical sensitivity of the finger tips, may be part of legato, part of “singing” tone, of cantabile<\/em> playing. In Roland Barthes opinion, the pad of the fingers is “the only erotic part of a pianist’s body.”<\/a><\/p>\n