You get both type of piano players if you have a full schedule of students: the shy ones who play too soft or the Beethovenian ones who will bring the piano to its knees.
Both are equally stuck in a dynamic range. One being soft or, as we say in music, Piano (yes, like the piano). The other being loud as a sledgehammer or Forte in muso lingo.
I’ve had some success with both by applying this method: I first ask them to play a C chord, which is C, E, G. Once they plonk that on the keys, I tell them to do it medium. Usually, they need to adjust. The soft ones become a bit louder and the loud ones a bit mellower. But not enough. Every time, they miss the mark. It’s not their fault, they’re accustomed to their ways. So, I show the timid people that the piano can have a powerful voice and that it’s ok to explore it, and I tell the bombastic characters that a piano can also whisper.
Finally, we get to a decent medium. The next step is to remember that because we are going to need that medium as a reference to compare softer or louder sounds. We achieve that by playing the C chord a few times with a medium dynamic, trying to get the same volume every time.
With all that out of the way, we’re ready to have fun. I tell the strong ones to go to medium soft, then soft, then very soft. On the opposite, the soft ones have to reach medium loud, then loud, then very loud. That exercise can make a few of them sweat. This is not as easy as it sounds.
We do that a bit, going from very soft to very loud. We even switch abruptly from soft to very loud and back to medium. It gives them a sense of control and, all too often, I can see a triumphant smile on their face.
The last step is to go to a song they’re playing and apply that new found knowledge to it. To their surprise, the piece doesn’t resemble how they presented it before. It has ups and downs, sometimes subdued and sometimes flying high.
Why are dynamics so important? you might ask. Because this is a big part of the emotion music delivers. It is a very direct line to someone’s heart. No dynamics and you’re typewriting the music, no two ways about it.
