Master Smooth Chords to Enhance Your Piano Playing

I’m Robert Estrin. Welcome to LivingPianos.com. One of the most essential techniques for any pianist is achieving a smooth, connected sound, particularly when dealing with repeated notes and chords. While it may seem straightforward at first, this is actually a tricky task due to the unique mechanics of the piano. On other instruments, creating legato in repeated notes can be relatively simple, but on the piano, it presents a great challenge. Let’s take a closer look at why this is and how you can improve your approach.

The Challenge of Repeated Notes

When playing repeated single notes on the piano, you have the ability to change fingers, which makes it easier to create a legato, or connected, sound. By alternating fingers, you can maintain a smooth flow of sound without it becoming choppy. This simple finger alternation technique allows you to play smoothly without the harshness that might come from using a single finger for every repeated note. However, this technique is impossible when you’re dealing with repeated chords.

Legato in Repeated Chords: A Bigger Challenge

Achieving legato in repeated chords is much more difficult because you don’t have the option to change fingers for each of the notes. This issue is especially evident in pieces like Chopin’s E minor Prelude, where repeated chords are a central feature of the piece.

Without proper technique, the sound of repeated chords can become disjointed and lack the smooth, flowing quality that you want. It’s tempting to rely on the sustain pedal to help connect the notes, but doing so can lead to a blurred sound and makes it impossible to use the pedal to enhance the melody line.

Pedal Use vs. Hand Legato

The key to achieving legato in repeated chords lies in your fingers, not just the pedal. While it’s common to use the sustain pedal to connect notes in situations like this, relying on it too much can compromise the clarity of the music. If you use the pedal without playing the chords legato, the sound can become muddy, especially in faster passages or when multiple chords are involved. Instead, the goal is to create smooth connections between the notes of each chord with your hands. This allows the pedal to serve as an expressive tool for shaping the melody, rather than simply connecting the notes of the chords.

When you focus on playing the repeated chords legato with your hands, you gain more control over the sound. The pedal can then be used to enhance the tonal quality of the meldoy and bring out the expressiveness of the piece, rather than relying on it to make up for a lack of hand legato.

The Art of Connecting Chords

To effectively play repeated chords legato, you need to keep your fingers right on the keys. Be sure to allow each of the keys to come all the way up without ever losing contact with the keys. Each note within the chord should be connected smoothly, which means avoiding any breaks between notes. This requires careful finger placement and awareness of how your fingers transition from one chord to the next.

When you master the art of hand legato in repeated chords, you can use the pedal more creatively to add warmth and expressiveness to the melody. The pedal should not be the sole means of just connecting the chords but rather a tool to elevate the music as a whole. With proper legato technique, the pedal becomes an extension of your playing, allowing you to shape the sound and add depth to your performance.

Applying Legato in Other Pieces

This technique is not limited to just one piece or one style of music. It’s essential in many classical works, such as Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata, where smooth, legato playing is needed to connect repeated chords in the left hand. In these cases, using the pedal to smooth over the notes can often lead to a less refined sound, as the pedal blurs the melody line.

When you focus on playing the left hand legato without relying on the pedal, the results are much clearer and more expressive. By combining legato with careful pedal use, you create a much more refined and musical sound.

Using Legato and Pedal Together

To sum up, when you’re playing repeated chords or notes, your primary focus should be on achieving legato with your hands. Don’t rely on the pedal to connect what your fingers can already make smooth. Once you have a solid legato foundation with your hands, the pedal can be used more effectively as a tool for musical expression, enhancing your sound without muddying the melody. By practicing this technique and focusing on hand legato, you’ll find that your piano playing becomes more fluid, expressive, and controlled.

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