Piano technique & Chopin Op10 no2

Hi Thanks for your replies. David I think I've lost the plot on what I was saying as well Alan thanks for your response for the etude. I will try this but I think the problem is that I dont have the Dvd yet as I ordered it online last Saturday and I have only been getting a few of the techniques from the You-tube posts. So while I understand what you are saying I'm not "feeling" it yet or if I am I dont know it. When I started finding out for myself what works for me I went through so many different combinations of hand position that even if something works in slow practice it may not have worked when speeding up. It was hard to know if I was ever on the right path without trying all of them. No teacher (concert pianist-teachers) up to now had ever taught me what I knew I needed to play with complete musical freedom and tonal colour with effortlessness. I await receiving the Dvd and will let you know how I get on. I think if only you are able to teach these techniques then it seems I'm going to be stuck since you are not available. You are in Serbia? and I'm in the UK. Although if you have any suggestions other than go through the programme on the Dvd and record myself, then I'm all ears. Many thanks Sharon

Playing skeletally will give you the positions. The bones find the positions when the task at hand is done in a way that allows them. If you get lost in trying to find the position, you are not letting sensation & sound dictate it to you... As for some teaching contact: I am rarely in the UK but looking at possibly a master class in early April, around Easter break. I am also looking at setting u a class in Novi Sad, because several people have expressed an interest in coming. Ryan Air flies to Temishoara which is quite close... I can't figure out whether it is better to take people one at a time for a few days' intense work, or to set up a master class where there would be more chance for interchange... The latter requires more organizational effort, which of course is my weak suit... AFF

Hi I would be interested in participating in a masterclass. Is this something you plan for everyone or just conservatoire students? I would like to return to the professional platform but need to return to the drawing board first so to speak. Regarding masterclasses or lessons in Europe - I'm not adverse to this but I need to make time in advance. I'm not sure how busy you are - seems like you have your hands full. Please let me know. Thanks Sharon

Interesting, we might organize craft convention somewhere in Europe next year.Where are you from Sharon?

Im from UK. I live in 2 places at the moment. London and Sheffield. There are plenty of teachers around and I was a teacher myself for 7 years. But I know what Im looking for right now and a concert-pianist teacher just because they are a concert-pianist as I found in the past doesnt mean they can teach me what I need to know.

There's a woman named Lada Valesova in London who worked with me for a long time and who is a very fine pianist. She might be able to show you a thing or two in terms of how I work... And there's a guy in Cambridge named Richard Potter who, although he tends to translate my ideas into his own slightly eccentric versions, might also be of help... Apart from that, I can let you know when my class here is organized, and as well if I do something in Lewes in April... All the best, AFF

Hi Alan Thanks for the info. Are you able to put me on a mailing list for when you are planning on doing your classes etc. Thanks Sharon

To get put on the mailing list for master class notifications, please write Milosh Yankovitch That should do it! All the best, Alan

Hi there I thought Id give you an update on this original problem I posted. Well I have still not received the Dvd so I have been going over and over the You tube clips and the various techniques (grasping and legato/skeletality) and re-reading your replies on this study. Firstly when I anaylsed what I was doing and how I play in general I wondered whether I had already been doing some of what you say (not necessarily consisitently and maybe I couldnt confirm if the terminology could be associated with what I am doing - TBC) afterall I did make a few discoveries myself a while ago and it seems to be working on the relaxation front. Secondly I tried to feel from your descriptions of skeletality what that was like in this piece - I remember the legato clip for this. I also wonder whether I have described arm weight incorrectly afterall resting on the bottom of the note is armweight which I "seem" have been doing without exerting more pressure after the keys are played. Describing muscle activity is very ambiguous as I have found myself when trying to explain what is happening, but also trying to feel what it is like from a description equally confusing. So last night and some nights before I practiced RH in a skeletal way (re legato youtube). I am free although sometimes I'm not sure why I can fly on occasions and not on others. Then I tried with the chords. I think my problem was resting on the RH notes as they play again (its like its programmed now). I dropped the chords and tended to hold the thumb as a balance for the hand. I also wondered about the grasping effect and whether some of this was also incorporated. Well I think I got things completely wrong because I have an aching today in the middle of my hand! Thats never happend before. Today away from the piano it suddenly dawned on my how the standing up on the forefinger and thumb may feel as the stableising force and I was trying it on a chair on the train! My question then when practicing moderate tempos things work out fine and it can make you think everything is being progressed. As soon as you up the tempo to the quicker speed everything is lighter therefore the hand feels different. This is where I no there is nothing "balancing" the hand while the fingers play the chromatic passages. Do you ever try out every now and again a speed test to see if everything WILL work at speed as it does in slow practice? I hope this makes sense and I appreciate its difficult to assess over a forum but I'm so itching to get this Etude finally on the right path!! Sometimes I think I'll never get it! Thanks Sharon

Hello Sharon, Where exactly in your hand did it hurt? Some pains are good - they indicate that muscles have started to work that have lain dormant too long. Other pains indicate stress and overuse. Generally from the wrist on up, pain is to be avoided, whereas many pains below the wrist are OK. However it's not a blanket rule. That's why I ask for specifics... Generally skeletality goes hand in hand with increased finger action. Finding the skeletal way will generally allow you to increase your finger movement without compressing or jamming in any way. If you just get "bony" it is often not enough. Without a vigorous movement, you risk too much lapsing back into compression. But skeletal means finger action without tension either - the effort to move the finger is vigorous but without resistance, without the generation of tension anywhere. You stay loose to move more easily, and also to sense skeletal alignments better. Not so loose that you are "flabby." Let me know about the exact location of the pain. All the best, AFF