Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Modern Piano Fingering

Translator: Kris Liu

Standing up from the couch, Victor clapped his hands delightfully, “All right . Mr . Rhine and Mr .

Shavell have finished the improvement of the harpsichord a couple of days ago . Let’s try the

new harpsichord today! All of you can come! I even feel that I shouldn’t call it a harpsichord

anymore, since its tone, its range, and its volume are completely different now . For me, it’s a

revolution in string instruments!”

Seeing the joy on his face, Lucien could tell that Mr . Victor was very satisfied with the

improvement .

“Mr . Victor, as the initiator of the harpsichord improvement, you may like to give the new

invention an official name . ” When they were walking upstairs, Lott talked to his teacher in a

flattering way .

“Yes, Rhine, Shavell and I actually talked about the name before . However, none of us could find

a proper name for it . ” Victor looked at Lucien with a mild smile on his face, “Lucien, what’s your

idea?”

“My idea?” Lucien was a bit surprised .

“Of course, you made no small contribution to this . We’d like to hear your suggestion . ” said

Victor, “Well… Rhine appreciated its mechanical sophistication, so he wanted to name it

mechanical harpsichord . I mean…Mr . Rhine is a talent in music, but definitely not good at

naming a new musical instrument . Mechanical harpsichord doesn’t sound right to me at all . ”

“What’s your idea then, sir?” Lucien asked .

“Um… I prefer to have a new name . This new musical instrument combines both the features of

harpsichord and clavichord, and it has a much wider range of tones compared with its

predecessors . So I would suggest the name to be… superchord!”

“……” Including Lucien, none of the students present knew what to say toward this name .

“Well, what about the name ‘pianoforte’?” Lucien said with uncertainty .

“Pianoforte? It’s a pretty new name, but it sounds a bit weird . ” Victor rubbed his chin with his

hand in thoughts .

“The sounds produced by the new instrument were an extension of what the harpsichord could

do . ” Lucien was trying to make the weird name make sense . Lucien knew, in his world, the first

piano made by the Italian harpsichord maker Cristofori was first called “pianoforte” . In Italian,

pianoforte meant “soft loud” . Lucien wanted to keep the name, because it would be sweet if he

could play an instrument in this world which was almost the same as a piano on Earth .

“Pianoforte… Pianoforte…” Victor found the name was pretty interesting, “What about just

‘piano’?”

Lucien was very surprised that Victor would appreciate the name .

“I like the name, ‘piano’ . ” Felicia agreed, which was even more beyond Lucien’s expectation . It

was the first time Felicia showed her commendation for any of Lucien’s ideas . A faint blush

appeared on her beautiful face, “I don’t know why… I just somehow feel like it’s the proper

name . ”

Mr . Victor nodded with a bit of confusion, “Yes… I feel the same way, Felicia . Piano… It feels like

it should be called piano… Weird…”

“Yeah…That’s how I feel as well . ” Lucien was a bit nervous . He did not understand why both Mr .

Victor and Felicia had a special feeling toward the name . Hurriedly, he changed the topic, “I can

hear someone playing music in the practice room upstairs . ”

“Yes, Mr . Rhine is here today . Didn’t I mention it?” Victor answered with joy .

Felicia’s face was now as red as a ripe tomato .

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 .