Being another boring day (I've got to get a life), I decided to make
another post (part 2) about Chopin's "Method of Methods".

First read this excerpt, snatched from the website www.chopin.org (many
thanks).

 [on his death bed] He orders all his unpublished and uncompleted works to
be thrown on the fire.  He said to Wojciech Grzymala:

   "You will find many works, more or less worthy of me; in the name
   of the affection which you hold for me, please burn them all 'apart
   from the beginning of my method for piano' [apostrophes supplied for
   emphasis].  The rest, without any exception, must be consumed by
   fire, for I have too much respect for my public and I do not want
   all the pieces unworthy of my public to be distributed on my
   responsibility under my name."

First, the" beginning of my method for the piano" is only about 1 page and
a half long, far from finished.  And yet he must have felt that even that
had some great value.  On first discovering this, I (as a pianist)felt
compelled to not only read it, but study it for its secret meanings, if
any.  I have already discussed the part about sound and music (ref earlier
post).  The remainder is about fingering.  With the list's indulgence I
will insert my own comments in brackets, or at the end, and encourage
interested list members to offer their comments as well.

   "...  The study of this mechanism I divide into 3 parts.  [Presumably
   part 1] To learn to play the notes with both hands at one key's
   distance from another; distant, that is to say, a tone or half tone.
   This includes the diatonic and chromatic scales and the shakes
   [trills].  As no abstract method for pursuing this study exists, all
   that one can do, in order to play the notes at a half-tone or whole
   tone distance will be to employ combinations or fractions of scales
   or to practice shakes [i.e.  take it a small part at a time]"

This no doubt means, for example, learn to play, say, the C major scale in
the left hand while playing the C# (Db) major scale in the right hand, or
play, with both hands, a chromatic run where one hand is a half step below
or above the other.  Try it.  Its not that easy to do and causes the hands
to develope an independence in the feel of the keys under the hand- feel
being different than fingure independence.  One could almost make a lengthy
study out of just this.

To be continued in the interest of short posts.

Bill Pirkle