For anyone who wants to know how to acquire
a supple and strong piano technique

The Pendulum Method is a system of exercises, which I have put together partly by adaptation from well-known types of exercises, and partly from inventing exercises myself. I have named the system after the general idea that all the exercises without exception are performed in a continuous movement between stretching and bending from side to side like a pendulum, because this continuous movement makes it impossible to stiffen. Some may fear that this method leads to an unstable and swinging technique. On the contrary, it leads to a steady, strong and supple technique, removes superfluous movements and works against muscular acidification.

The Pendulum Method also contains some preparatory manoeuvres, The Active Stretch and Bending Exercises, which intensify the conditions of a rigorous exploitation of the possibilities of the exercises training the strongest stretch and the strongest bending possible for the musculature of the hands and the fingers.

If you learn and use The Pendulum Method, you will also acquire a way of playing the piano that never will be slack or stiff but on the contrary always strong and supple. In this alternation between stretching and bending and in moving from one to the other a conditioned reflex of balance between tension and relaxation is activated, and right here, between stretching and bending and between tension and relaxation you will find the piano technique.

Some musicians apparently possess the gift of being able to play with natural euphony, authority and energy that evokes in us as listeners an underlying response: “Yes, that is just how it should be.” And some musicians play with such close contact with their instrument, that makes others ask: “How is this possible? How can they play with such agility, rapidity and strength without stiffening?” How could Vladimir Horowitz play with such an enormous physical strength and such radical movements? How do you play the piano  ̶  that is, use fingers, hands and body  ̶  in such a way that the piano playing becomes beautiful, powerful and varied between legato, staccato, non-legato, playing scales, double notes, octaves and so on?

Having asked piano teachers, pianists or fellow students what piano technique is, some have advised me to practise scales, triads and tetrads, octaves and thirds from different collections particularly by Brahms, Cortot or Hanon or just to play freely, thinking as little as possible about technique. Others (most people) have not liked talking about piano technique, — possibly because it would be like exposing an insecurity, that it would be unpleasant for them to admit, and maybe because skills that they use unconsciously, might become unstable, if they were questioned. I have often been left confused, and with unsatisfactory answers to my questions, I have had to ponder further. This has caused me to find my own solutions to difficulties in my piano playing.

Even as a child and youngster, it was an important inspiration for me to know the organist (and pianist) Flemming Dreisig. He is a virtuoso and a reputable organist, who among other things has been cathedral organist in Copenhagen and professor in organ playing at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory. As a child he was, for a crucial period, taught by the well-known pianist, professor in piano playing and doctor, Victor Schiøler, who gave him a thorough introduction to a course of scales, which became a strong foundation for his great technical skill as a pianist and organist. Meeting Flemming Dreisig made me understand that it is possible to develop piano technique through knowledge and exercises.

With this collection of exercises it is my intension to make solutions, I have found to difficulties in my piano playing, available to anyone who wants them as means to help them become a happy pianist (organist or harpsichordist?) with a sufficient grounding for solving the technical challenges that will occur in the development of any pianist.