Principles of Method

Mozart’s hand position from a painting by Johann Nepomuk della Croce

Principles of method

“Whoever possess the art of always producing from the piano forte a beautiful, harmonious, and smooth tone: who never carries the forte or fortissimo to a disagreeable and excessive harshness: and further who combines the highest degree of volubility with perfect distinctness and clearness, will execute even the most startling assemblage of notes, so that they shall appear beautiful, even to persons unacquainted with music, and give them unfeigned delight."

Carl Czerny
(student of L. van Beethoven and teacher of F. Liszt)

In spite of significant contributions in the field of piano technique made by major researchers of the 20^th century: Tobias Matthay, Otto Ortmann, and Arnold Schultz, no practical method for piano teachers, who are ultimately responsible for building foundations, was developed. We define "method" as an effective, scientifically-based physical approach to piano playing. Since piano playing is physical activity, an effective method should lead to optimal results with minimal effort. A correct physical approach should provide the potential for long hours of playing without any harmful tension or pain. An added result of a correct physical approach and also the ultimate goal in music performance is the quality of the resulting tone-- a sound which possesses good projection and a beautiful spectrum, rich in overtones. In the 20^th century only a few great piano performers, those who received their foundation from the great traditions of Liszt and Leschetizky possessed these qualities; the secrets of their physical approach and the resultant distinctive quality of tone were not made available to the majority of piano pedagogues. The Niks Piano Technique attempts to fill this gap.

The Niks Technique synthesized the most valuable principles of the piano schools of the past combined with new knowledge of the principles of efficient muscle work. Preserved from the past was the principle of independent fingers, vertical movements of wrist, forearm, and arm, and concept of released arm muscles. The first major contribution of the Niks Technique is the condition of the resting arm with unlocked joints of the shoulder, wrist, and finger that created condition for the effective piano playing without tension. The condition of unlocked joints is the core of the Niks Technique. Fully relaxed condition of the joint is impossible since all physical activity requires muscle and joint work. Stiff joint condition is a result of two major antagonistic muscle groups engaged simultaneously. The condition of the stiff joint is dangerous leading to hand complications. Unlocked joint is the only effective solution: only one major group of muscles is engaged at the particular moment of playing: lumbricalis group is responsible for key depression, the flexor muscle group is responsible for resting at the depressed level of the key and the extensor muscles are responsible for the raising of the fingers, etc. Realizing that this complex principles based on the invisible work of muscles cannot be adequately explained with words, Mr. Niks returned to the 19^th century ideas of piano devices. The Hand Guide exposed the inner work of muscles in a modern context with accelerated training supported by exercises with the device outlined in the supplemental manual, Play Without Tension.

The training with the Hand Guide was materialized with the concept of the Baroque and Classical Style with their requirements of curved finger usage (originated in harpsichord technique). The curved finger is most effective for the development of technique from the point of view of physics (a curved finger is the shortest lever, thus capable of the fastest possible key attack). Only the curved finger allows for first joint (joint closest to the nail) stabilization leading to finger acting as a unit. This stable condition should be accomplished prior to progressing on to extended fingers (typical for the composers of the Romantic Style). With change of style in the 20^th century, many composers who continued the Classical traditions (e.g. Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartok, Hindemith, and others) returned to the concept of the curved finger that reflected their desire for the fastest attack of the key.