Accomplished performing musicians must pay close attention to many musical elements simultaneously. One might ask, “Am I observing all the composer’s indications in the score?” “Are notes articulated clearly and intelligibly?” “As much as possible, is my interpretation in keeping with accepted stylistic performance practices?” “Am I communicating with the listener on a personal level?” “Am I consistently coaxing the most beautiful, varied, engaging sounds possible from my instrument or voice?” Musicians address such questions and countless others each time they launch into practice sessions, rehearsals or performances. In addition, pianists, whether soloing or collaborating with other musicians, must pay close attention to what commonly is called “voicing” or “balance”; they must bring musical lines of greatest import to the fore while subduing subordinate ones. Mastery of this difficult and often-neglected skill can separate merely good pianists from those who are genuinely exceptional.

Why is voicing so important for pianists? One answer is that, while the modern piano’s timbre is the same throughout its entire pitch range, most pianists, for greater tonal variety and coloristic appeal, wish to imitate the timbral diversity of ensembles such as orchestras, choirs or string quartets. But when listening to an orchestra, for instance, one’s ears can readily differentiate the timbres of various instruments playing solo lines or similarly important material. The volume levels of supporting lines must be monitored carefully, of course, to avoid drowning out those more important, but composers adept at orchestration often utilize the orchestra’s numerous timbres to help highlight significant lines. Pianists must rely more heavily on differing volume levels to distinguish voices. By doing so, however, they can create the illusion of having a wider variety of pianistic “touches” and a breadth of sonorous possibilities matching the broad spectrum of pitches their instrument is capable of producing.

Balancing voices adeptly may positively impact the listener’s perception of a pianist’s tone production as well. Unlike most instrumentalists, pianists must perform on whatever instrument is made available to them. Some pianos have lovely tones, while some do not, and pianists have very limited control over the tone quality of any one pitch. Those who have mastered how best to play notes relative to one another, however, give the impression of actually drawing more beautiful sounds from the instrument, overcoming, to an extent, the tonal shortcomings that may exist in some pianos. Similarly, the “singing tone” pianists prize is, in part, the result of keeping accompanimental material in its proper place while presenting melodic material with a full, round tone. Theodor Leschetizky, renowned teacher of Ignace Paderewski, Artur Schnabel and countless other great pianists who thrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, described his reaction to a recital given around 1850 in Vienna by Bohemian pianist Julius Schulhoff:

Under his hands the piano sounded like another instrument…. I began to
foresee a new style of playing. That melody standing out in bold relief,
that wonderful sonority–all this must be due to a new and entirely
different touch. And that cantabile … a human voice rising above the
sustaining harmonies! I could hear the shepherd sing, and see him. (1)

It seems clear the young Leschetizky’s overwhelmingly positive reaction to Schulhoff’s playing was the result, at least in part, of the latter’s ability to balance voices exceedingly well, forging a wide range of timbres and a radiant, expressive tone.

Projection of musical character also hinges, to a degree, on how lines are balanced against one another. A pianist may change the musical tone from dark to bright by simply bringing out higher pitches slightly more than usual, producing more sparkling, penetrating sonorities. Conversely, a heavier bass line can produce a darker, more ominous hue. The third of a triad may be emphasized above its root or fifth to create a “sweeter” quality in a dolce passage. Such coloristic possibilities are limited only by the performer’s listening skills and imagination.

The term “balance” takes on added meaning for collaborative pianists. When performing with additional musicians, one must consider not only the balance within one’s own part, but also the balance between all the performers. Let us, for convenience, focus on pieces written for a duo of one singer or instrumentalist and piano, since balance issues become more complex as chamber ensemble sizes increase. Perhaps the most important rule of thumb in duo settings is to avoid playing accompanimental material too loudly when it lies in the same register as the singer’s or instrumentalist’s pitches. If this principle is not adhered to, the pianist will rightly be accused of “covering” the other musician’s part. Inexperienced pianists may react by simply playing softly at all times. As a result, their playing goes from overbearing to dull and nondescript, and the overall impression the music makes upon the audience is severely compromised. The finest collaborators, however, can create true fortes when necessary while de-emphasizing specific parts of the texture that would otherwise interfere with their musical partner’s efforts. Pianists performing in collaborative settings must, as a rule, stress bass lines slightly more than in solo playing, for they often are called upon to supply the bass line, the harmonic foundation, for the entire ensemble and not just for themselves. This does not typically create balance problems, since pitches of lower frequencies tend not to mask those of higher frequencies. Listening and experience are indispensable in honing the exceptionally advanced voicing skills chamber music and accompanying require.