Brief And Explosive Muscle Contraction: Any Exercises

I've been thinking about the playing of loose-looking pianists like Cziffra and Horowitz (less so) who seems to be very relax. They don't hold any tension in pressing the keys. From the speed they play, I'm sure when their hands are already free of the contraction. Yet from the sound, I'm sure the power is there. Just want to see if there's any means of cultivating this kind of explosive muscle contraction, with emphasis on relaxing completely right after. Maybe we can draw some experience from other more physical-oriented realm, say martial art or other kinds of sports??

There is a dvd by Barbara Lister-Sink called "Freeing the Caged Bird". The whole DVD is devoted to learning the "basic stroke" . She compares this to certain athletes eg tennis players etc. She explains very well the split second contraction and release. I have only recently "got it !" and it has been the biggest unbelievable transformation of my playing in a very long time. Once i got it , everything started to fall into place and I then was able to "get" Alan Fraser's skeletal playing . I am a jazz pianist and have always struggled with tension in my arms and thumbs especially improvising at around 230 to 250 bpm. I can now effortlessly play at that tempo and can now attempt to play at 300 to 320 bpm !!! This is amazing for me!!! regards PJ

So glad to hear that Barbara's film helped - that is great news. Just goes to show that I need to go back to the drawing board - I THOUGHT my whole book and film were oriented towards developing and cultivating exactly the kind of playing Alvin describes, but if he doesn't get it and you are getting it from somewhere else, I guess I have to upgrade! AFF

I think Alan's book (first book) focuses more on structure and alignment of the hands, and some tricks to get the right feeling of the complex organizations. I guess the "out the back door" technique is more oriented towards muscles activation. Well, I totally agree these are much more important than muscles activation, as my experience could tell. The old Horowitz is probably not very strong in his muscles, and definitely weaker than virtually all young pianists at their 20s. but the excellent coordination counters for it. On the other hand, there're pianists whose motions I think (and hopefully not misjudged) are not particularly efficient, and yet have extremely good technique at the end, rank among the very top (e.g. Kissin. I think he wastes quite some energy on pressing. Or at least it seems so) I think their hands are just extremely powerful, enough to make up for the waste of energy. It would be wonderful if there are more ways, perhaps more general ways, to strengthen our hands. Or perhaps Alan already touched upon what has been known so far?

Cultivating structural potency is the first prerequisite to finding the ability to have muscles contract strongly and then instantaneously relax. Other than that, I am still developing new ways to strengthen the hand or rather to unlock its innate strength. I still see I can improve the work of my first dorsal interosseous, which is crucial to the right work of both forefinger and thumb. I am arriving at this towards an ever more exact alignment of all my body, not just the hand. Shoulders, shoulder blades, ribs, hips, placement of the feet and legs - these all serve to either enhance or diminish the sense of each body part aligning with an empowered activity in the first dorsal interosseous. The direction of the movements in the hand itself is also crucial to cultivating this sense of hand strength. The sense of the thumb coming IN and UNDER the palm, as if it constantly wanted to snuggle up against the root of the third or fourth finger, is a wonderful way of stimulating the first dorsal interosseous to ever more potent activity. And of course my experience in T'ai Chi is crucial - T'ai Chi is ALL about instantaneous release of any contraction - let the bones do the work! AFF