Making the melody sing – free course

The piano is a polyphonic instrument: you often play a melody and its accompaniment at the same time. If every note has the same volume, the melody drowns. The art of balancing each voice is called voicing, and it is one of the surest signs of an accomplished pianist.

The principle: three layers

The melody (usually the top voice): full tone, legato, about two dynamic levels above the rest.
The bass: the harmonic foundation, present but round.
The filling (chords, inner notes, broken accompaniment): the most discreet, like a carpet.

Case 1: melody in the right hand, accompaniment in the left

This is the most common situation. The left hand must play "underneath" the right: think pp for the accompaniment and mf for the melody.

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=66
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
[V:RH] !mf!e4 d2 c2 | d6 z2 | e4 g2 f2 | e8 |]
[V:LH] !pp!C,G,E,G, C,G,E,G, | B,,G,D,G, B,,G,D,G, | C,A,E,A, D,A,F,A, | C,G,E,G, C,4 |]

Case 2: melody and accompaniment in the same hand

Trickier: the right hand plays a chord in which only the top note is the melody. The solution is to weight the hand towards the 5th finger: a slight outward rotation of the forearm, a firm and slightly faster 5th finger, the other fingers "lighter", barely touching the key bed.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=60
K:C
!mf![EGc] [FAd] [GBe] [EGc] | [FAc]2 [EGc]2 |]

Progressive exercise

Play only the top note of each chord, legato, singing inwardly.
Add the other notes staccato and pp, while the top note stays legato and full. This trains finger independence within the hand.
Play the chords normally while keeping the same hierarchy.
Control variation: bring out the middle voice, then the bottom one. If you can do that, the top voice will feel easy.

Common mistakes:

Bringing out the melody by playing everything louder: you should instead lower the accompaniment.
A left hand "at the same level" as the right in broken accompaniments (Alberti style): repeated notes must be very light.
Accenting every melody note: singing also means connecting and phrasing.

Tip: actually sing the melody out loud while playing the accompaniment alone. Your left hand will learn by itself to serve the melody.

Ideal pieces to practise this: Satie's Gymnopédie No. 1 (melody over chords) and Dvořák's Largo.