| Healing Fractures by Mary Hannon 6/15/00 |
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I decided to heed the suggestion of Michael Sellers and Bruce Potterton (contributors to the Professional Perspective column in fall & winter issues) and read Charles Cooke's book "Playing the Piano for Pleasure". Written by an amateur for amateurs, it is filled with valuable insights and suggestions. Most helpful to me was Cooke's recommendation of how to deal with difficult sections while practicing a piece. He called these sections fractures because they hinder or stop the flow of the music.A fracture can be compared to an illness. When we go to the doctor and tell him we don't feel well, he doesn't simply tell us we're sick and send us home. He runs tests and does analysis to determine what is causing our problem. A fracture is a musical problem that needs special analysis and treatment. Simply repeating the passage over and over will not solve the problem. By diagnosing the fracture, we will learn what to do to fix it and make it the strongest part of the piece.
Fracture setting includes the following steps:1. Play the piece straight through to give you a total impression.2. Play through, stop at each fracture and mark it. 3. Mark preceding and following bars which will serve as hinges to the rest of the piece.
4. Analyze what is causing the fracture...
5. Correct the problem and play the passage through slowly, making sure...
6. Play the passage slowly several times, then stop and listen to it in your mind without playing it. By physically executing each individual movement and then mentally digesting it, your mind is fully participating in each repetition. 7. Play hands separately. 8. Play the problem passage with the bars preceding and following it. 9. Play the piece straight through slowly, integrating the fracture; then play in tempo, testing it for strength and reliability. I have written these steps on an index card and placed it on my piano. They provide a framework for my practice and I can choose the steps that best apply to my needs. When we first identify a fracture it seems difficult, then less difficult, then somewhat easy, then easy and then very easy. By our analysis and practice technique, we've healed the problem, turned a fear into a strength and come a step closer to playing the piece with mastery.
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