Playing the Harpsichord: Piano Book

This book cuts through the romance of harpsichord history to give you concrete, usable information about touch, articulation, and style that pianists can actually apply. Schott treats performance practice as a technical skill set rather than academic trivia, which means your students learn the why behind each technique alongside the how.

Reading this book feels like having a trusted mentor explain the unwritten rules of baroque music-making. Schott's voice is scholarly but never condescending; you're learning from someone who has spent decades listening to and performing the music, not just reading about it.

Pianists and harpsichordists preparing to perform baroque repertoire with historical sensitivity, as well as music history students who want to understand performance practice beyond what notation alone reveals. Teachers introducing students to period-appropriate style will find concrete language and examples to guide rehearsal conversations.

• Study the ornament section closely before attempting any baroque work; understanding whether a trill starts on the upper note or main note changes everything about phrasing and harmonic clarity.
• Experiment with varied articulation in the same passage to hear how touch shapes the listener's perception of line and structure, especially in two-part writing.
• Work through the fingering principles before defaulting to modern piano technique; historical fingering often reveals the composer's intended phrasing and breath points.
• Pay particular attention to rhythm and tempo discussions when preparing period repertoire; modern metronome markings can obscure the actual character Schott describes.

Assign this as a preparatory text when your students tackle their first baroque sonatas or suites; it transforms vague notions of 'period style' into specific technical goals. The historical overview also enriches concert program notes and pre-concert talks about the repertoire.

• Executing trills, slides, turns, and arpeggios with historical accuracy
• Analyzing baroque articulation and applying it to phrasing decisions
• Understanding rhythm and tempo conventions in seventeenth and eighteenth-century music
• Adapting modern piano technique to the demands of period repertoire
• Reading historical fingering and understanding its relationship to musical structure