important and the most frequently used, and it must therefore be considered first.
There are three kinds of legato-touch—namely, brilliant touch, suitable for rapid passages; cantabile, or melody-touch, used for sustained melody; and accompaniment-touch, Each of these may be employed either singly or in combination; thus the touch proper to melody and that belonging to accompaniment are naturally generally met with together, and other combinations are perfectly admissible in their proper place. Moreover, although the classification here given is sufficiently practical, there are cases in which the most appropriate touch seems to partake of the qualities of two of the above kinds; for instance, a passage may be sufficiently melodious and not too rapid to require somewhat of a cantabile touch, or so light and delicate as to be best rendered by a touch approximating to that proper for accompaniment.
Of the three kinds of legato-touch just mentioned, the touch for brilliant passages is at once the most difficult to acquire, and the most important, as being the foundation of all other kinds. It consists of a rapid and decided blow, struck with the tip of a bent finger (but rather rounded than angular), and just escaping the finger-nail. In order to insure a correct position of the hand for this kind of touch, the best method is as follows:—Place the middle finger of the right hand on any note—say E, the fourth space of the treble stave; let the back of the hand be kept level, so that a pencil laid upon it would net roll off, and then point as nearly straight upwards as possible with the three free fingers and the thumb. Now lower the front joints of the first and third fingers, slowly and gradually, but without altering the position of the joints at which the fingers are connected with the hand, and watch for the gradual disappearance of the finger-nails. As soon as this has taken place, and the nails are just hidden from view by the bend of the finger, the hand is in a good position, and the first finger is ready to strike D, or the third finger F, as may be required. As for the thumb and little finger, they will, in all probability, have become slightly lowered during the bending of the other fingers, and will now be on a level with the back of the hand, but stretched out, which is their proper position.
The hand being thus well placed, and resting on the note E played by the second finger, with all the other fingers (including the thumb) held at a distance of about two inches above the keys, let us now consider the best way of striking the next note, D, so as to produce a bright, full, and decided tone. To this end three things are requisite, the blow of the finger upon the key must be rapid, vertical, and from a sufficient distance. Any one or two of these qualities might be present without the others. For example, the finger might fall rapidly and in a vertical direction, but from an insufficient distance; or, the distance being sufficient, the blow might yet be oblique, from the fingers having been too much or too little bent, or slow in movement, and therefore deficient in percussion. In none of these cases would the touch be good, but if all three qualities are present, and if the finger which is already upon E leaves its key at precisely the moment at which the first finger strikes D, and in springing upwards observes the same rules—that is, moves rapidly, vertically, and to a sufficient distance—then the note D has been played good touch, and the second finger is in a position to. play again in the same manner.
It will be readily seen that when the hand has once been correctly placed, as described above, it is necessary that the fingers should be kept absolutely motionless until the moment of striking the next note, as otherwise the three conditions of good touch could not be fulfilled. For suppose the first finger to have been allowed to sink before striking its note, the blow would not be given "from a sufficient distance:" or suppose that it became too much bent or too much extended, the blow would not be "vertical." It is therefore of the first importance that the fingers should be kept absolutely still during the whole time which intervenes between the striking of one note and the next; whether that time be long, as in the slow practice of finger exercises, or short, as in a finished rapid passage; and this fact leads me to speak of secondary motion.
Any movement of a finger which does nct produce a note, and which is therefore wasted, is called secondary motion. Such movements are found in all untrained hands, and consist of involuntary extensions and contractions, tremblings, or (very frequently) sinkings of the finger. Secondary motion is the very opposite of good touch, and the possibility of acquiring the latter depends in the first place entirely upon overcoming the tendency to the former—in other words, upon learning to hold the fingers still. This is the reason why all finger exercises should be practiced very slowly, in order that the student may be able to watch the behavior of the fingers between the striking of the notes, and assure himself that they are held not only in a good position, but quite free from secondary motion.
The proper speed for the practice of finger-exercises is, supposing them to be written in quavers, about M.M. 𝅘𝅥𝅮 = 60. But although they should be practiced thus slowly, the touch must not be slow but rapid (according to the requirements of the three good qualities mentioned above); and this is a point too often neglected by teachers, who merely tell their pupils to practice slowly, without explaining why, and so allow them to form a touch adapted for nothing more lively than a funeral march.
Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that the notes of an exercise are being played at the rate of one per second, and that the fingers of the player are so slow in their movements as to require a whole second to rise or fall in; such a player will obviously be unable ‘to play notes in the smallest degree quicker than the speed mentioned; but if the fingers can be held quite stationary for (say) eleven-twelfths of a second, and the movements of lifting one finger and striking the other (which movements are, of course, simultaneous) can be made to occupy only the remaining twelfth, then the player will be in a position to play twelve notes per second if required.
All that has been said so far applies of course to every couple of fingers and to each hand, the only additional point to be noticed being that the thumb and little finger should be quite straight, except where the player has very long fingers when the little finger may be slightly bent, though never so
