38 Modern Piano Fingering (2/2)

Rhine was sitting in front of the ‘piano’, his hair silver and his gesture charming. Without moving his shoulders and arms, his fingers were dancing on the piano keyboards, and a beautiful piece of music was flowing out of the musical instrument.

They indulged themselves in the joys of the song. No one made a sound until Rhine finished playing. All the students and Mr. Victor started applauding for the amazing performance.

“Mr. Rhine! As an excellent violinist, it’s amazing that your skill in playing clavichord is also great.” Felicia’s eyes were glowing, “Your performance was as good as Ms. Silvia’s!”

Standing from the bench, Rhine bowed to them elegantly with his right hand on his chest. He was trying to play the same song on both the clavichord and the piano to see the difference. He turned to Felicia and smiled, “I’m flattered, Felicia. But I can never compete with Ms. Silvia. It was she who wrote this song after all.”

Ms. Silvia was the best clavichord player in Aalto. Since clavichord was ideal for playing in a relatively small space, like in a living room or even bedroom, Mr. Silvia was often invited by the noble ladies to play in their places. It was said that Ms. Silvia was a close friend of Princess Natasha, and thus she enjoyed a high reputation in the association.

When Rhine was playing, Lucien paid more attention on the movement of his fingers. At the same time, he searched in his spirit library and found some useful books to refer to. According to these books, the modification of a musical instrument was the main cause of the changes in fingerings, as well as the holistic style. The piano standing beside them had eighty-eight keys and different pedals, which was already very close to a modern piano on Earth. Thus Lucien believed the modern piano fingering should be the best way of playing it.

On earth, people used to play clavichord with three fingers of each hand. Then the famous pianist, Bach, started using his thumbs and little fingers. When piano gained its popularity, Chopin made a second revolution in fingerings by also playing the black keys with his thumb and little finger.

When Lucien was reviewing the basic modern fingering books in his mind, Victor told Rhine about the new name of the instrument. It turned out that Rhine loved the name as well.

“Come here, Lucien. Sit in front of the piano. I’m gonna show you the basic fingerings.” Victor said to him.

Lucien trotted toward Mr. Victor with a bit excitement. However, as soon as he sat on the bench, Lucien felt something was not right. It was a bit too short for the piano.

“Mr. Victor, can I have a taller bench?” asked Lucien.

“Why? You’re not much shorter than Mr. Rhine. The height should be fine.” Victor was a bit surprised.

Extending his arms, Lucien tried to show it to Mr. Victor, “But if I sit on a bench of this height, I could only use my fingers and wrists. If I want to use my lower and upper arm, as well as my shoulder, I need a taller bench, otherwise it would be too awkward.”

“That’s because you’re not supposed to use your arms and shoulders. That’s too rude!” Victor was pretty serious, “Forget about what you’ve seen in the pubs. You saw how Mr. Rhine played, didn’t you? Did he ever use his arms and shoulders?”

Victor’s reaction was within Lucien’s expectation. Modern piano fingering was quite hard to be accepted by many famous pianists back in the days. In their eyes, pianists using modern fingering like Franz Liszt were rude. The way of swinging arms and shoulders in their mind looked very barbaric and it was like smashing the piano.

“Yes, Lucien. Those players in the pubs are not well-educated. I know… umm… you probably grew up in that environment, but now you’re here. It’s time for you to see what is noble music now.” Seizing the chance, Herodotus scoffed at Lucien’s words.

“Mr. Victor, the piano is a new musical instrument.” Lucien explained calmly, “I feel that how a musician plays the instrument should depend on the features of it. As an extension of harpsichord, piano is superior in both volume and range. With the strength of arm and shoulder, I feel its features could be presented in a better way.”

Rhine took a step forward and smiled at Victor, “I agree with Lucien. Remember the discussion about fingerings several years ago? Probably we can make a real difference again with it.”

Victor thought for a while and finally said, “All right, maybe we can give it a shot. But Lucien, if it later is considered wrong, it would take you a long time to forget the wrong movements and start over again. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Lucien nodded at Mr. Victor with a determined look.

In the other students’ eyes, Lucien was no more than an arrogant boy trying to impress Mr. Victor and Mr. Rhine in this stupid way.