Volume II · Chapter 1
Harmony
Volume II expands the two core elements of tone production from Volume I—sound imagination and intonation—into new expressive dimensions. Harmony comes first: attentive listening to harmonic colour—supported by sound imagination and refined intonation—shapes the quality of touch and tone, guiding the fingertips toward a more nuanced, communicative sound.
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- II · Advanced Mental Practice: Sound Imagination & Intonation
- Chapter
- 1
- Sections
- Theory · Practice
- Practice Commitment
Volume II · Developing Musical Expression
Why we listen to harmony
Attentive listening to harmony—supported by sound imagination and refined intonation—shapes the quality of touch and tone at the keyboard. The imagined colour and character of each harmonic event influences the impulses in your fingertips, guiding them toward a more nuanced, responsive sound.
This work strengthens the musical dimension of your playing by
- enriching the palette of tonal shades, and
- creating delicate, expressive variations in intonation that make the performance more moving and communicative.
How to identify and sense harmonic colour in the score
1. Reduce complex passages to block chords. When you see broken chords or sequential notes outlining harmony, group them into simple chord shapes.
2. Listen to each chord with the sustain pedal. Hold the pedal to allow the full resonance to develop.
3. Observe the emotional colour of the harmony. To orient yourself, begin with a simple descriptive word:
| warm | cold |
| bright, shiny | soft |
| light, clear | dark, cloudy, heavy |
| consonant, open, calm, peaceful | dissonant, tense, painful, edgy |
| full, rich, earthy | ethereal, celestial, dreamy |
4. Compare chords when you feel uncertain. Placing two harmonies side by side often clarifies their colour.
Keeping a short list of basic adjectives nearby can help you stay grounded and avoid overthinking, making it easier to recognise—and later imagine—the precise sensations associated with each harmonic quality.
Practice
The Natural Refinement of Movement
Before we begin, I want you to see the broader picture of how the amplitude of your hand movements — and the movement of your body, your posture — naturally evolves as you add new layers of sound imagination and intonation.
As you introduce harmony, dynamics, and voicing infused with the energy of your needs or dreams, you will notice that your hand motions begin to diminish. Your hands will no longer create large "rolls and swings", yet the sensations that once guided those gestures remain fully present in your muscle memory, even if they are no longer visible externally.
This occurs because your hand movement adjusts on its own, guided by more nuanced tone production and by the new colours introduced through harmony, dynamics, and voicing. Allow this refinement to unfold naturally; do not force or restrict the amplitude of your movements.
A similar transformation will take place in your posture. Even though in Volume I we explored in detail the importance of a stable, steady posture, you should still allow your body to move freely whenever movement is needed to express intonation.
As you progress through the piece, however, you will find that, as you add more subtle qualities of musical expression — such as musical speech, phrasing, form, and the energy of your needs and dreams — your posture will gradually settle. It will become more composed, contained, and still.
This, too, is your body responding to your inner singing. And as your inner singing grows more nuanced and deeper, your posture will naturally appear less mobile and more steady.
When Harmonic Colour No Longer Needs Annotations
Keep in mind that while it can be useful to write descriptive adjectives for harmonic colours in the early Czerny examples, this is not necessary in later repertoire.
Over time, you will rely less on written reminders and more on a general, intuitive sense of harmonic colour simply by glancing at the score. You might notice, for instance, that:
one section feels more tense, another more open,
one harmony full and warm, another light or cool,
some bright, others calm and soft.
Harmony Integration Steps
When imagining harmonic sound texture, keep the following sequence in mind:
- 1.
Start with sound texture. Imagine the pitch in a liquid-like texture. Think of the sound as having a translucent, fluid quality.
- 2.
Add harmonic colour. If the sound texture resembles clear water, then harmony colour is like adding a drop of dye into it. The colour spreads, subtly tinting the entire texture without changing its fluid nature.
- 3.
Complete with adding sound movement. Allow the sound to travel downwards and sideways, giving it direction and length.
It is important to introduce sound movement after each new layer—whether harmony, dynamics, or voicing. Introducing sound movement before initiating a new layer could potentially diminish sound movement.
Day 1
Marking the Score
Fingering
Position-Change Notes
MarkingsWrite down the fingering in the score as you play using an intuitive pedal.
Mark position-change notes and add the pedal indications in the score.
Optional
Hand Motion
You may play through the piece using 3D wrist motion and elbow motion, gently releasing the fingers on the circled notes.
Later, once you feel confident with these skills, this step will no longer be necessary.
Instead, on the following day, you'll move straight to playing with correct hand motion — after first imagining every note in its sound texture.
Day 2
Play at a slow tempo, without adding dynamics or articulations. Practice each step throughout the entire piece.
Hands Separate
Pre-practice
Mindset Session
Breathwork, meditations, journaling.
Manifestation (clarify your needs - the energy of your 'dreams').
Sound Texture
ImaginationImagine each note in sound texture, combining it with sound movement & glissando between notes.
Sound Texture
PlayingPlay with 3D motion, sound imagination, and intonation & weight.
Hands Together
Sound Texture
ImaginationImagine the notes in both staves in sound texture with sound movement and glissando.
Sound Texture
PlayingPlay with 3D motion, sound imagination, intonation & weight.
Energy
ImaginationImagine the notes in both staves in sound texture with sound movement and glissando, infusing each note with the energy of your dream.
Energy
PlayingPlay with 3D motion, sound imagination, intonation & weight, infusing each note and intonation with the energy of your dream.
Day 3
Hands Together
Reconnecting
with the Day 2 Foundations
Play through the piece with your attention on the Day 2 tasks, gently reminding yourself of the layers you embedded into your imagination and muscle memory the previous day. This will help you maintain clarity as you add the new Day 3 layers.
Harmony
ImaginationImagine the notes in both staves in sound texture & harmony, with sound movement and glissando.
With each 4-bar section:
Listen to the harmony and feel its emotional colour.
Then, imagine the notes as they are written in the score in sound texture and harmony with sound movement and glissando while holding the block chord with the sustain pedal. Imagine passing notes in the same harmony.
Next, imagine the notes again after you release the sustain pedal that was holding the block chord.
And finally, imagine them in complete silence, without playing any chords.
Harmony
PlayingPlay with 3D motion, sound imagination, intonation & weight.
Trust that hand motions, intonation & arm weight, and posture are in your muscle memory. So you can now focus more attentively on the sound imagination of harmony.
When to Add the Energy Element
When analyzing a new piece, adding the energy element after every layer of sound imagination—harmony, dynamics, and voicing—can be unnecessarily demanding and, in the end, not particularly useful.
As you progress, you will learn that the energy element should be added only after the very first and the final layers of sound imagination — sound texture and voicing. For the intermediate layers—harmony and dynamics—you simply skip the energy step.
This makes the process easier, saves mental energy, and keeps your attention on the essential elements of sound imagination.
Open Lessons
Watch Emma teach this chapter
2 filmed open lessons from Emma’s studio, drawn from the original PianoWell program. Play any lesson below — it continues to the next automatically.
Recovery for Pianists (2021) - 9 - Harmony
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