10 years ago by
A Pianist
Hi folks, apologies in advance for what may turn into a long rambling post. Here are just a few ideas and things I've noticed recently - nothing particularly profound or original, and maybe not even that useful, but hopefully we can get some interesting discussion out of it.
In a recent Skype lesson with Alan, he had me make my hand more functional in octaves by stretching out the fingers away from the thumb so they all bunch together on the other note of the octave (the 'seal flipper' shape, from All Thumbs (pg 65, I think). Also, later in All Thumbs Alan talks about a particular shape for the second finger to be at its most functional.
Looking at some old books about piano playing, I notice that there is a certain dynamism in photos of the hands of the players (tension, if you will). Looking at videos of modern pianists, there is a smooth deadness.
I guess I don't have much of a point here, other than perhaps that sometimes, rather than pursuing function that generates structure and shape, occasionally we should pursue a certain dynamic shape to allow increased function.
In a different lesson I had with Alan, he helped me create a missing function in my shoulders by getting me operate in a fairly muscular way (much like a lot of the applications from Craft). He said it wasn't really Feldenkrais, because of the large effort involved. However, does the creation of a new part of of the self image constitute Feldenkrais, even if done with effort?
Perhaps not a terribly important question, but as I'm applying to do the Feldenkrais practitioner training, and interesting one for me.
As most of my recent work at the piano has been aiming at creating a functional connection to the instrument to alleviate the problems of discomfort I've been having, I've been thinking a lot about preparation. Over the last couple of days I've been particularly aware of my relationship to gravity. I find, using a combination of Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais (a very potent mixture at times) I can make peace with gravity in the space of a few seconds, which is fairly new for me. Once I'm prepared in this way any work I do at the piano is much more effective.
However, there are so many possible meanings for preparation at the piano, many of which have been discussed here on the forum, I thought that maybe we can get them together in one place?
Any thoughts about any of the above are very welcome.
