Staccato: Tension-free playing & Style tips

[@djtomt]

You technique is incredible and your teaching superb.

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thank you very much!

[@zigeunerweisenop.2065]

This video was so helpful thank you a lot ❤

[@daniel.mussatto]

As always great content, Denis! I've been tweaking around the frontiers between staccato and legato at high speeds, and I stumbled upon the idea that one could be able to control the timing between release of a note and the attack of the next to create a legato effect, provided that they are balanced and played in a same volume, even if they are played technically staccato. I'd love to hear more on that, do you have any videos that cover that matter? Thanks!

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Well, since a damper needs some time to fall on the string and stop the sound, you can do that in a faster tempo. But it is challenging to reach a true sensation of legato by playing like this, which is more about expressiveness and smooth phrasing, and not just about notes that formally overlap… but generally that’s a valid assumption.

[@daniel.mussatto]

@@DenZhdanovPianist Thanks for your reply! Yes, the matter of phrasing, shaping expressiveness of legato is what caracterizes it the most. Maybe I misused legato and meant connected such as in leggerio/leggerissimo passages, such as Burgmuller's Pearls étude or many Chopin's filigree. Do you believe that freeing/reducing tension is achieved by not connecting physically but aurally using staccato playing?

[@seheyt]

281 likes out of 5332 views is criminally underrated for these gems of pianistic experience

[@honeyHaBB]

Thank you for making this video. I’ve never been fully satisfied with my execution of staccato notes… and especially the non-legato style of playing Bach and other baroque pieces. I’d love a video with advice on techniques to play Bach beautifully. (I’m currently working thru the Well Tempered Clavier book 2)

[@j-zk9wv]

Thank you Denis for your great help as ever. I look at other piano videos but your advice is always the best

[@lorenzomorgoni524]

Helpful for sure! By halving the values, one (almost) never goes wrong with staccato IMHO :) Difficulty for me is to find a gesture that allows to still control the finger, whatever the speed. But after a certain speed the player can probably just think about playing non legato and that's it. Your hands and fingers position, shape and action is elegant, admirable :)

[@Leon-xw3nv]

Your presentation is clear and helpful in the extreme! Thank you for another excellent video, it is much appreciated.

[@anna-d-e]

i am glad i came across your channel

[@brendamengeling4653]

This was super helpful! I’m an early intermediate pianist, unfortunately without a teacher currently, and as I get into more non-lesson repertoire, I’ve been wondering about stacatto half notes vs stacatto quarter notes. Thanks for the explanation!

[@qazsedcft2162]

My teacher compared the baroque staccato to a cello or other string instrument playing detached notes. Those notes are separated but nevertheless still smooth and not percussive.

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Right! I also use this analogy often!

[@jules153]

Yes, good one. I was thinking the sound of the foot pedals on an organ too

[@paridhirathore4830]

I really enjoyed this video, but it felt a little rushed. This is an intermediate piece, so a bit more explanation on why to choose certain options (eg the crecendo vs the alternative dynamic) and a play through would have been great.

[@lucjanocastro]

Thank you, Denis! Another great technic lesson!

[@enricolongo242]

Thanks!

[@ciararespect4296]

Great teaching and things I wish I'd known about years ago. I played that sonata and found in the 3rd movement the hardest bit was the fourth bar that's with the octaves. I finally got there but plenty of trial and error At 8:04 the Bach would that be known as portamento or mezzo staccato?

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

This is where things get subjective, and people with different backgrounds might break spears over terminology.

[@edwardfrench7216]

Thanks for this. Really helpful and a privilege. The romantics sometimes indicate staccato in passages that are also con pedale and may be sostenuto or cantabile in another hand or even a different finger. This is sometimes puzzling. How do you handle it?

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Gesture, articulation, and acoustic effects such as pedal/reverberation are different dimensions in romantic music. In romantic style it is absolutely appropriate to leave short sounds “hanging” on pedal, nevertheless articulating them shortly with fingers. This might be applied even to the “later” works by Beethoven, for example the last chord of the 1st Mov of the Concerto 4 might continue ring on pedal, while pianist plays it as shortly with the hands as the orchestra does.

[@edwardfrench7216]

@@DenZhdanovPianist Thanks. What a delightful, elegant and prompt reply. It allows one to make musical sense of what might be seen as contradictions.

[@gergerklekle9400]

Schön erklärt + gezeigt ❣ ( By the way : longer - shorter = portato - staccato in German 😂

[@artursouza7848]

I have difficulties to play the Schumann scenes from childhood no.3. I think that in this case the staccato is shorter. How would you recommend studying this?

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

In the same way as suggested in video, gradually speeding up by avoiding building up the tension between hits. Just needs patience not to play faster than your comfortable tempo, raising it gradually over a number of days

[@artursouza7848]

@@DenZhdanovPianist okay, thanks!

[@sychg3448]

Very helpful

[@truekingvictory]

This is super helpful, Maestro Zhdanov! In regards to staccato, I'm still having a lot of trouble especially with my weak left hand with Bach 2-part invention 10. Most especially the mordents. Would you be able to do a tutorial on Baroque mordents a la Sokolov?

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

That’s an interesting suggestion, maybe one day…

[@markus7894]

The most difficult staccato is Schumann's Hasche-Mann from Kinderszenen! It is for really grown-up Pianists!!

[@CaptainCaveman782]

My teachers are Russian Conservatory graduates but they way they teach me staccato I am finding very unnatural and awkward!. The teach it like an upward impulse from the wrist, e.g.so wrist fires up and finger(s) go down into the key. Its like you are flicking a bug off your wrist. This is different that the many teachers teach , i.e. a bouncy movement from the wrist. Confused

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

There are plenty of different ways to teach piano. What you describe reminds me of an older tradition of playing on the 18th century instruments, if I understand it from your description correctly. It was one of the staccato types, the one that is written in the score as vertical spikes, not dots. Nowadays not many people use it because modern instruments don’t provide a significant sound difference to this extravagant approach in comparison to a more ergonomic one.

[@LawrenceSolon]

Me: *Plays piano for 25 years and feels like my technique has got pretty good* Also me: *Watches Denis and realises I still don't know how to actually press a key on the piano*

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

oops... sorry

[@LawrenceSolon]

@DenZhdanovPianist :D - I've been practising staccato scales for the last hour, thank you for the tips and inspiration.

[@mitchnew3037]

This is fantastic advice 🥹