Attack

Attack is a term which describes how you hit the keys. It's a macho word intended to make us foppish piano guys feel like real men as we daintily pluck away at our effete pursuits, hoping we won't succumb to ferocious bouts of nosebleeds or consumption. I'll comment in my snobby way that in most Rock n' or Roll attack doesn't matter, because most of those guys flail away at the keys like Bobby Brown going after Whitney Houston (ouch) but when you actually play with consideration toward expression, you have three things to consider: pressing the key, holding the key, and releasing the key. Each moment of contact affect how the tone sounds.

If you hit the key quickly, and release immediately, this produces staccato--a short burst of sound. If you begin the next note before the last note ends, this smooth, liquid transition is legato, and a seamless legato is hard to master, but oh, so desirable an effect to attain. A rising inflection is a crescendo; a descending inflection is retardato.

Complications arise when you realize musical compositions are constructed of complex arrangement of notes. Chords can consist of three, four or five tones. Sometimes a chord may sound better if different notes receive more emphasis than others.

I recently realized this about the first section of The Entertainer.

Yes, just when I thought I had it licked. it occurred to me the upper note of the octave, the key played by the little finger, needed more emphasis. So I began "leading" with the fifth finger instead of the first (that's the thumb for regular human beings). Of course, this threw off the entire dynamic and I had to slow down to reorient. But it did sound a lot better. Brighter, happier.

But my litter finger aches.

I'm working on the D section of Joplin's brilliant little work, a section so different from what went before in mood-- even a different key, the key of F Major--it might have been excerpted from another composition. It seems simpler and easier to play so I hope to learn it quickly. Section "C" is coming along, even the second iteration which is an octave higher. By Christmas I think I'll have something to cheer about.