Marian Friedman (amazing Repeated Notes)

A very convincing demonstration of Feuchtwanger's special approach. What strikes you as most remarkable about this, Alvin? Why did you post it? AFF

Haha Alan, you knew I posted it not just because of the performance ! (which isn't the greatest despite the great technique) Yes I posted it because lately I have been going through some breakthroughs. I'm learning (on and off) from a local pianist who has a comparable obsession with techniques as yours. He claimed to have read every books on piano techniques he can find (and of course he read your books ) I told him about my problems, and within a few measures, he told me what (what he thinks) I'm missing. He prescribed a few Feuchtwanger exercises, and showed me how to do it. The following few weeks, I gradually become convinced that arm movement is indeed what I missed. I think whatever exercises one uses is secondary. The question is, how to cultivate that quality. My teacher showed me some "exercises" (I have no idea where they come from), like shaking the whole arm (from the upper arm) and let the triceps and forearm muscles bounce loosely like a loose long sleeves shirt would. Marian Friedman's finger is actually very active. If their approach is to be understood fairly, it is the view that cultivating arm freedom first and keep that ''intention'' intact even as we activate our fingers. And this way, the finger will move a lot but very loosely, as if you are not trying to move them! Watching her play inspires me about what's missing in my playing. Because she exaggerated to the extreme what I'm missing. Yes, Argerich might be a better pianist, but her movements (especially the arm movement) are often internalized. So are most other pianists. I'm posting Marian Friedman because she shows it so graphically! Anyway, I have been learning a lot lately. And the discovery of how I can free myself so much simply by the intention of generating movement from my upper arm is very revealing. To this end, Taubman's double rotation (which her disciples miscontrued as a doctrine and an actual phenomenon in performance) is just another therapeutic exercise similar to Peter's exercise. They both aim to free the forearm and upper arm. My teacher said it's from the spine, but I can't feel it yet. I am posting this to also try to prompt you into sharing your insight on the subject. You have a lot of exercises on the hand. When it comes to the arm, you tend to be a little general. Saying the arm should facilitate the fingers, for example. It isn't so easy for readers (or even viewers of your teaching-- as I'm a subscriber to ) to subjectively ''feel'' it unless the exercises somehow ''force'' us into feeling the right thing; or some movement exercises that '''activate'' the arm like your exercises on activating the thumb. By the way, my teacher took lessons from Dorothay Taubman years ago. He said in his two years with her, she never talked about double rotation.

Thank you for these comments which are very enlightening... About my thinking on the arm - I don't think I'm that general. Perhaps it is hard to be very specific in the written word. There are certain lessons on Pt.org where I show how to cultivate a precise arm trajectory to reflect the precise musical content of the phrase in question... But I can't tell you where - to keep track of all my lessons there and annotate them is a task beyond my means. That's why I rely on viewers to annotate. This is how we are going to turn that data base into a really valuable learning tool. Glad to hear about your insights and breakthroughs! AFF

That's a very interesting video. Thank you for sharing, Alvin Chan. Regarding the repeated notes, I noticed that Friedman's fingers, hands and arms looked very active, as you pointed out. If you compare her Scarlatti to that of Argerich , you can see how their approaches differ. Argerich looks very active in the fingers and wrist (she seems to use a sideways motion with her fingers and wrist), but her arms don't look very active. Argerich clearly has better repeated notes than Friedman does, and it appears that Argerich's more efficient approach (with minimal arm movement) allows for greater speed. Not surprisingly, in the closeups of Argerich's hands, her arches look very solid.