Tone Production

[I hesitate to expose the listener to the following opinionated snippets from Brinkerhoff's ravings, but I suppose the reader always has the luxury of turning off the light and going to bed. --The Producer]

My teacher, Huberman, spent an entire year in retirement figuring out how to produce tone on the piano. The first lesson he gave me was to go home, take three weeks, and learn how to play one note on the piano, and not come back until I could. Tone on the piano is generated by an immense amount of pressure, even on the softest note, and that massive digital descent must be applied precisely, sometimes softly, sometimes painfully slowly, until just the right grading out of thousands is achieved. Each chord must be not a mess of noise, but a careful voicing of individual notes, depending on which idea in the melody or the accompaniment the chord is meant to abet. In Bach or Beethoven, every note means something and will reoccur constantly to underline the way overall shape determines every note. Pieces become like plays, where each note is a different character, and will play a role in telling a story. Those notes must stay in character, and not just frolic on the stage.