chant appliqué au piano

Singing applied to the piano — Thalberg's principle that the piano can and should imitate the human voice, sustaining and shaping a cantabile melodic line above (or within) its accompaniment with the same breath and nuance a singer would use.

Thalberg taught that every melody note should feel as though it is being 'breathed.' Shape phrases according to the natural rise and fall of vocal breath rather than mechanical note-by-note articulation. Use the sustain pedal to support longer melodic notes as a singer would support with air.