Hand Types

Hello, this is my first post. I learned about the DVD today (on youtube), and I find it very interesting. I cannot say anything more about it, but I think I will buy the DVD or the book or both. One thing I can tell is that Alan Fraser seems to be a very nice man, and the promo video is a pleasure to watch. Many thanks also for running this forum. A very valuable place. My question: I would like to hear AF's (or anyone else's opinion) on the ideal properties of the hands for piano playing. Many common people consider long, slim fingers to be ideal for piano playing ("piano fingers"). However, looking at the many great pianists with sturdy, sometimes even plump, hands and fingers, that idea is not tenable. I, on the other hand, having those longish fingers, suspect that I'd be better off having shorter fingers and a stronger palm than I have (I'll post my pictures below). It seems obvious--using an analogy--that a long pole is harder to operate than a short one, and that more muscle mass provides better control over the pole. While the hand properties may be not so important taking into account the numerous other factors involved in piano playing, I often have the feeling of "needing more power". Maybe it is a question of technique really, and my recent progress seems to support that to a certain extent. On the other hand, someone with a sturdier constitution might not have to work so hard to achieve and maintain optimum efficiency. I realize that very little to nothing in Feldenkrais is about muscle training (I am no expert, please correct me), but where is the lower limit in piano playing? Obviously, someone who could not even squeeze a boiled potato would have a hard time at the piano... Many thanks for taking the time, Dominik. PS. Unfortunately, I could not post picture links due to the posting guidelines (5 posts minimum). I do not want to make 4 fake posts, though...

Dear Dominik, Thanks for your questions which are quite astute. In my opinion there is no ideal hand shape or size for piano playing. There is ideal function, and most of us are far from this. ANY hand that approaches this ideal function will do well at the piano. I have had to deal with hands of all shapes and sizes, and in each case, the problems I encountered had to do with the person's understanding of piano technique rather than their particular hand. Mind you, there are certain problems encountered repeatedly that ARE related to size. Small-handed people almost invariably tense their hand when stretching to a large interval. They are trying to compensate for the small hand size but it only makes the problem worse. I myself have a large hand, but my teacher told me my tendons were too loose. This was his subjective perception; what was actually going on was that my hand didn't know its function of fully activating, especially in the lumbricals, and so much of its innate power was unavailable to me. I suspect that you fall into this category. You can't shorten your fingers, and thank God, you don't need to. You CAN "strengthen" your palm, that is, do things to wake up its innate power - see the demo, the section on grasping. This is not so much "body-building" as activating a dormant function, but you will feel stronger when you succeed in this. Yes, Feldenkrais is not about strengthening, but a lot of Feldenkrais IS about improving basic functions such as sitting, standing, walking. However, a function has to exist before it can be improved: thus it is that some of my exercises, thumb push-ups for instance, are a lot more vigorous than the standard Feldenkrais movements. This is to ESTABLISH a function - many pianists can't really "walk" on the keyboard and they must learn it before they can improve and refine it! I hope this answers your question! AFF

Hello, For a few months now, I've been busy exploring what's called the intrinsic handmuscles. After an initial 'extreme' phase of thinking, that one can play (mezzoforte at least..) by handmuscles . Intrinsic handmuscles, as I now undestand their role, can drastically shift the effort from the forearm muscles to the hand/palm. But here is my question to you, Mr. Fraser: Do you your handmuscles ? Can they be sensed 'more', if they engage for example in rapid passage work ? best regards

Hmmm, good question. It varies. I go through different phases. I think when I am learning to activate those muscles I really do make a strong conscious effort to USE them - I am talking specifically about the lumbricals here. But for instance I was just practicing now, and focusing much more on my whole body organization, especially a sense of "let go" in my hip joints and the small rocking motions my pelvis naturally does to support the musical direction, and I found that my fingers were activating without me really thinking about it. It would appear that the ability has been integrated (for now!) and it comes to the point where, as Moshe Feldenkrais put it, "Any truly efficient movement will be perceived as effortless." This is especially true in rapid passagework. I may practice such passages lifting the fingers as I show at the end of the film, and even try to continue to do that at speed, but at speed there is no time for an actual big movement: the attempt merely galvanizes the muscles to right action. In slower cantabile it is possible, if you wish, to continue to use a big effort in the intrinsic hand muscles as a way of producing that big, juicy tone. Hope this helps! AFF

Thank you very much AFF, for your quick answer. On a side note, I'd like to say that your communication is very good, one crucial aspect of it being the timing. Having experienced highs and lows in my piano performance, obviously unrelated to training (with my physique being pretty much the same all the time), I think I can relate to what you say. Maybe it is my incomplete piano technique (if technique can ever be "completed") that would often give me the impression of not having enough power. I have made one interesting observation, by the way: If I manage to warm up really slow, taking my time, refusing any attempt on great speed or loudness, until I can literally feel the key mechanism at each note (that's best possible in a state of optimum relaxation); then speed and loudness will set in automatically after a while, without any conscious effort, pretty much as if they finally want to have their say. Maybe this phenomenon could be called "automatic activation". Not having read your book yet, however, I may be lacking the proper terminology to clearly name what I mean. Meanwhile, I am experimenting with this and trying to establish this "having it come on its own, in its own time" as a new habit. I think one major hindrance in piano playing (and in many other activities) is wanting too much at a time.

I have made one interesting observation, by the way: If I manage to warm up really slow, taking my time, refusing any attempt on great speed or loudness, until I can literally feel the key mechanism at each note (that's best possible in a state of optimum relaxation); then speed and loudness will set in automatically after a while, without any conscious effort, pretty much as if they finally want to have their say. Maybe this phenomenon could be called "automatic activation". I have had that same experience too. The price question is, how to "call upon" this state.. say for a performance in front of a large audience ! To have experiences like this privately at home is one thing... but integrating the inner workings of it in everyday life and in public situations shows me, that the of it goes much deeper.

The price question is, how to "call upon" this state.. say for a performance in front of a large audience ! To have experiences like this privately at home is one thing... but integrating the inner workings of it in everyday life and in public situations shows me, that the root of it goes much deeper. That goes for everything we work at, wanting to reproduce it on stage, of course. Also for "the right mood", for concentration etc. In the special aspect I talked of here, I think it is a matter of installing and consolidating the right habits first, and when these have really established, the time between sitting down at the piano and the prowess kicking in will contunially diminish -- it may tend towards zero in the end. As long as we need a variable warm-up, unpredictable how long it will take -- in my case, it varies between a few minutes and "forever" (on odd days where nothing goes right), it'd be quite daring to go for a live performance with demanding material. IOW, then we're not ready for it. Simple as that. Everything in live performances is about being able to reproduce, even when circumstances aren't ideal (unless you're Horowitz, bringing your own piano, verifying its proper setup with a water-gauge and cancelling performances if lunch wasn't OK ). Seriously, every skill and habit has to be so deeply engrained so that it runs absolutely automatically. There are other things to think about on stage than how to get our fingers warm and running. THAT has to be installed as an automatic program, based on teachings like those of AFF.

In my experience, performing is always something completely different from all the preparation undertaken. There is no avoiding it, it is simply a different phenomenon. You can't count on anything. You can't count on automatic activation especially. But more of your physical preparation will transfer through to a performance IF all the physical stuff I talk about serves a musical end. And you have to feel that musical end with your whole soul. Then you have to stay aware enough that when your soul takes over in performance, your physical mechanism continues to serve you. So, the more you practice taking time before each action - and I mean each miniscule, microsecond action of which there are thousands in each composition. so that your neurology has adequate time (this also may be measured in split seconds) to prepare for each of those actions, the more chance you have of, as Moshe says, going fast without hurrying. The hurrying feeling appears when the action is disorganized, when the sensory and motor neurology start stumbling over each other. Get it well-organized and then you will see that speed and power come, but DON'T GO UNCONSCIOUS WHEN THEY DO! Use that gift for a higher expressive end. I hope this helps! Alan

Your answer surprises me a bit, but let's see if I can figure it out... There to be automatisms, given the complex task of piano playing, don't you agree? Fingering, posture etc. -- we cannot do all of that consciously all the time, can we? Meanwhile, since I am not acquainted with all of your ideas and terminology, maybe I should get your DVD first so that I know better what we are talking about here. I have lately become reluctant in buying new material, especially books (of which there are many about piano playing), but in your case, I think the arguments are quite strong, especially considering that you are adressing aspects that are otherwise neglected in literature. Concerning the split second before each action: Is that still actually there in a performance? I mean, there are tempi which do not really allow for "taking your time" before the next action. How short does the split second eventually get? Does it somehow sublimated and replaced by a feeling of "having the time" instead of actually "taking the time"? Hard to put in words... Thank you Dominik

I remember playing for a friend who hadn't heard me play for awhile, and I had been developing some of the things in my own playing that I speak about in my book and DVD. He saw that I was better organized physically, with the resulting improvement in my musicianship. He's not a musician himself. His comment was interesting: "You have more time," he said. I wasn't playing more slowly, I just had "more time" to do all the things I was doing quickly. I was better organized neurologically because I was better organized physically. Or maybe it's the other way around! I mean that there was less inner struggle between my learned "parasitic contractions" (Moshe Feldenkrais's name for actions that serve no useful purpose and actually inhibit efficient movement) and my intended action. This actually led to a subtle change in consciousness: my mind was clearer, I was calmer mentally and so could see ahead in a more effective way. Does that explain things a little better? Of course we do need reflexive movements and automatism. Yet we need to develop habits that serve us well and dispense with the ones that are interfering. The higher state of paying attention that helps reduce bad habits in practicing is also useful in cultivating good habits in the performance itself. That's why I recommend retaining that kind of heightened concentration and not reverting to "automatic" (i.e. relatively unconscious) playing in performance. Warm regards, AFF