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chêne

English translation: oak

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:chêne
English translation:oak
Entered by: Gayle Wallimann

10:10 Jun 14, 2009
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Music
French term or phrase: chêne
this is taken from a pianist's interview in which he recalls a class with a very demanding teacher and describes what she would have him do, it reads: " Elle était d'une exigence terrifiante. Elle m'obligeait, par exemple, à jouer la main gauche d'une fugue par coeur, sans regarder le clavier, ou à répéter une table en chêne, rien que pour évaluer l'égalité du toucher."
I assume that he is refering to a music term and not an oak wood table?! I would be very thankful for any help on this one.
Ega
Local time: 17:37
oak
Explanation:
A common way for a piano teacher to evaluate a student's touch is in fact to have the student "play" on the piano with the keyboard closed, or, in this case, on an oak table (any wooden surface would do the trick). In this manner, the teacher only hears the thumping sound of the fingers on the wood, hopefully equally as loud, one finger after the other.
I wonder if this pianist's teacher was friends with my former teacher. Mine did the same thing to me, and sometimes would start me out on scales, leave the room, come back several minutes later and know exactly which note I should be playing, and which pattern I should have reached by the time he came back. I often had to fight back my tears, but he definitely contributed to my playing skills.

Also, the word 'sur' is missing from the text: "ou à répéter 'sur' une table en chène".
Selected response from:

Gayle Wallimann
Local time: 17:37
Grading comment
Thank you so much for your answer, I got in touch with the pianist himself who confirmed that it was indeed on an oak wood table that the teacher made him play, his experience was indeed very similar to yours, and he is equally grateful to this teacher but it took him a long time to come to terms with her methods.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +1oak
Gayle Wallimann
Summary of reference entries provided
writeaway

Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
oak


Explanation:
A common way for a piano teacher to evaluate a student's touch is in fact to have the student "play" on the piano with the keyboard closed, or, in this case, on an oak table (any wooden surface would do the trick). In this manner, the teacher only hears the thumping sound of the fingers on the wood, hopefully equally as loud, one finger after the other.
I wonder if this pianist's teacher was friends with my former teacher. Mine did the same thing to me, and sometimes would start me out on scales, leave the room, come back several minutes later and know exactly which note I should be playing, and which pattern I should have reached by the time he came back. I often had to fight back my tears, but he definitely contributed to my playing skills.

Also, the word 'sur' is missing from the text: "ou à répéter 'sur' une table en chène".

Gayle Wallimann
Local time: 17:37
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28
Grading comment
Thank you so much for your answer, I got in touch with the pianist himself who confirmed that it was indeed on an oak wood table that the teacher made him play, his experience was indeed very similar to yours, and he is equally grateful to this teacher but it took him a long time to come to terms with her methods.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M: Oh, I'm so glad you have confirmed what I (as a non-player!) instinctively imagined! Reminds me of dear old Joseph Cooper with his 'dummy keyboard'...
16 mins
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Reference comments


29 mins
Reference

Reference information:
http://preprod.lalibre.be/index.php?view=article&art_id=2732...

writeaway
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 44
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