It's nothing personal against you. I have a Default Deny policy for PM everywhere on the Internet for very good reasons that go far beyond the scope of this forum. Besides, even if PM were enabled, I have very high pedagogical and business ethics and I would not teach you anything "behind their backs" that goes against my friends' ideas. Anything I have to say here will be said openly and on the forum only for everyone to see. Without the intention of sounding harsh, but I think that at the stage you are on right now, you do yourself a disservice by trying too many different approaches within too short a time frame. I suggest you compare Alan's approach to Andrew's approach, make your choice, and stick to it for a while.
I'd hope that my approach wouldn't conflict with Alan's at all. The only thing where we are in significant disagreement is perhaps the weight issue- although I believe that restricting weight to preliminary action against a stationary key is the answer to "arm weight" habits. By setting up a situation where it's impossible to overdo weight (without carelessly knocking the key down), it's possible both to set up the finger in the position where the arm is LEAST likely to either fall or get pressed down to replace the finger's role. This is an off-shoot of Alan's point about starting the finger activity in all thumbs, but I've found nothing better than this manner of thinking to fix up the problems that Alan associates with weight schools. This manner of thinking ultimately trains you how to avoid excesses of weight- because it's geared towards finding the absolute lowest possible functional minimum level required for prep a finger to push the knuckle back up. It's when I fail to find that primed state that my fifth finger knuckle (and potentially even my whole arm) starts falling down.
Of course, I can't claim Alan's wealth of experience, but I do hope that my approach would be more inclined to complement than to contradict his ideas. Virtually everything I teach with regard to technique is geared towards eradicating negative movements in the hand- via positive action in the productive direction. I never allow arm concepts to interfere with this foundation stone, when working one to one with students. I feel that this specific way of understanding weight as being a tiny (but indispensible) preparation that is intertwined with quality finger action gets straight to the heart of the missing activities that Alan works to improve upon. Although Alan gives a slightly different description, I feel this complementary aspect both makes it easier to grasp the concept of a finger that is already active prior to key depression and of how to avoid compensatory arm falls.
I did not intend to suggest that, ), for whom you have planned a certain path of improvement, has another lesson with you and then you hear "Yes, but Paul told me to do this and this." (This may well be something that conflicts directly with your plans for that student).
You first think: "Is Paul crazy or something?", and then, curious as you always are, you ask: "Where did he say that?". And then you get an answer like "though PM" or "during lessons I had with him"; that is: sources you cannot check.
Even if that student has correctly understood ALL implications of what was said under certain circumstances, which I think is very unlikely, there will be confusion. You will inevitably get the wrong impression about 1) the student, 2) me, and probably also 3) yourself.
Paul
I did not intend to suggest that, ), for whom you have planned a certain path of improvement, has another lesson with you and then you hear "Yes, but Paul told me to do this and this." (This may well be something that conflicts directly with your plans for that student).
You first think: "Is Paul crazy or something?", and then, curious as you always are, you ask: "Where did he say that?". And then you get an answer like "though PM" or "during lessons I had with him"; that is: sources you cannot check.
Even if that student has correctly understood ALL implications of what was said under certain circumstances, which I think is very unlikely, there will be confusion. You will inevitably get the wrong impression about 1) the student, 2) me, and probably also 3) yourself.
Paul
I see your point and I partially agree with it. However the very nature of this forum makes having lessons (regularly) with someone who posts here (and is proficient enought to teach) very difficult - people from all over the world are debating piano technique related issues here. The coincidence makes that Alan lives 2 or 3 hours away from my town but that is only a coincidence. Adding to that, as I had lessons with him he told me that what he was teaching me had the purpose of playing with the right movements what other pianists teach you. And yes...that might sound peculiar but I actually told the last person from whom I took lessons that the way she suggested me to play was not efficient at all. I think there is a strong reason for which you recommend me not trying to implement too many approaches at the stage I'm at but I still haven't been able to find a good piano teacher in my town. There are also strong reasons to stop or (even better) refuse approaches that hinder your progress or harm you. In a way that is a good sign - it shows that Alan has managed to raise my movement awareness. Anyway, I think you're right. If other piano playing aspects should leave room for multiple approoaches, technique must be one-wayed from the very beginning.
