Microsoft Word - Piano Book.docx

Cantabile is achieved in piano playing by a combination of:

! legato touch;

! voicing;

! tone nuance;

! tone matching;

! crescendo;

! diminuendo;

! swell effect;

! rubato; and

! pedalling

Cantabile is called for in the melodic material of nearly every piano composition.
Normally in a melodic line no two notes should have precisely the same tonal nuance or
dynamic level. There may be occasional exceptions as in some parts of the slow
movements of the late Beethoven sonatas and in some parts of the piano music of
Debussy.

CHICKERING

Chickering and Sons was an American piano manufacturer located in Boston, known for
producing award winning instruments of superb quality and design. The company was
founded in 1823 by Jonas Chickering and continued to make pianos until 1983.
Chickering introduce the one piece, cast iron plate to support the greater string tension of
larger grand pianos. It was the largest piano manufacturer in the United States in the
middle of the nineteenth century but was surpassed in the 1860s by Steinway. The
Chickering name continues to be applied to new pianos today as a brand name of the
Baldwin piano.

CHOPIN

Life

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) is one of the four great romantic composersfor piano, the
others being Schumann, Liszt and Brahms. Chopin’s piano works are much-loved and he
is regarded as the most original and influential piano composer of all time.