slowly from the toes, up the legs, torso, shoulders and neck, and then from the tips of the
fingers, up each arm to the shoulders and neck.
REMOVAL
The removal of a piano should be carried out by an expert piano removalist because
specialised manpower and equipment are needed. Pianos are heavy, yet delicate,
instruments and piano removalists have developed special techniques for transporting
both grands and uprights to prevent damage to the case and to the piano mechanism. A
grand piano may in some respects be easier to move than an upright piano because its
legs can usually be removed.
REPEATED NOTES
When notes are repeated in a short-long sequence (dotted rhythm) the first note is
normally played more lightly (softly) to enable the rhythm to come out crisply. Similarly
the two short notes or chords in the polonaise rhythm are played more lightly (softly).
Repeated notes in a melody are normally not played at the same dynamic level but with a
nuance of a crescendo, or a diminuendo, or a swell effect. It is not necessary to change
fingers with slow repeated notes.
REPEATS
The whole question of whether one should plays the marked repeats in the piano
compositions of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and later composers is a vexed one.
The rule in piano examinations is not to play any repeats but this is for practical reasons.
Classical composers usually marked a repeat of the exposition in a sonata-form first
movement. This seems to have been because, in the early days of the sonata form when
listeners were not used to the sonata form, the repeat of the exposition impressed on the
listener the structure and thematic material and assisted the listener to understand the
piece as well as to enjoy again the music contained in the exposition. Classical
composers also, presumably for the same reasons, marked repeats of the recapitulations.
Composers eventually omitted the repeat mark for recapitulations and even where the
recapitulation is marked to be repeated it is rare for a pianist to play the repeat.
In the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor opus 13 ‘Pathétique’, because of
the absence of a dal segno repeat sign either at the commencement of the Grave or at the
commencement of the Allegro, it has been proposed that, contrary to the more usual
practice, the repeat of the exposition should include the opening Grave. It has been
suggested that the fact that the Grave theme appears later in the movement supports the
proposition.
The transition back to the repeat of the exposition in the first movement of Chopin’s
Sonata in B flat minor opus 35 contains an ugly harmonic progression which encourages