Specific examples for using Finger-Pedalling to hold back tremors.
The technique of finger pedalling is going a bit against contemporary trends, particularly in interpreting music by Bach etc, when keyboard players play just about ‘everything’ detaché if not staccatissimo. However, it does not go against the wishes of Bach himself who emphasises the importance of playing cantabile, as in the foreword to the inventions.
Girolamo Frescobaldi in his introduction to his Toccatas describes finger pedalling when instructing how to play Toccate di Durezze e Ligature (Durations and ligatures). These are best played on the organ (example Toccata 8 from book 2 of Toccatas). Frescobaldi’s instructions suggest to hold down notes of chords into the following chord as long as the fingers or the ear can, to create more interesting dissonances/tensions. So we may consider him the ‘inventor’ of finger pedalling.
Gustav Leonhard demonstrated finger pedalling in a masterclass attended on Bach’s English Suites, particularly #6 in d-minor and #3 in g-minor.
So I dug out the Frescobaldi Toccatas, after I had established some degree of stability from playing Scheidt and Bach chorales. Today (Feb 11), I played through the two above mentioned Suites with reasonably satisfying results, emulating what I learned from Leonhard.
There can be a danger when battling tremors and holding down notes longer than one is used to to create tension in hands and arms leading to carpal tunnel issues. Caution is therefore advised. The clavichord comes in handy for bio-feedback. When one holds down the keys with too much tension, the pitch gets sharp or the tangents get stuck between the strings.
This is an additional benefit to the purely beneficial effect for controlling tremors when using finger pedalling is that some players might get away from playing to choppy (anyone sensing I might have a bias?;). I also believe that playing melodies as cantabile as possible lets the soul soar on the melodies. In my approach to music therapy the soul should not be ignored. If nothing else, a soaring melody physically influences heart rate and healthier breathing. This has been objectively measured and documented since about five decades.
P.S. The famous prelude in C-major by Bach from WT clavier is of course a great example of written out finger pedalling (at least for the left hand). Glen Gould contrasts this by playing the right hand with a (in my opinion arbitrary) consistent pattern of staccato and legato. For therapeutic (if not aesthetic) reasons, the finger pedalling can be extended to the right hand as well. However, it should always be pleasing to the mind (zur Ergötzung des Gemüths), as Bach used to say.
Reflections 