Slippery Keys, Injuries, Purchasing DVD Etc.

Hi, Although I've read many chapters of the book before, I just watched the whole youtube masterclass yesterday and it has proved extremely useful. I've been improving on and off over the last two or three years (it was only shortly before looking at the book that I even began to use my fingers in any real sense at all) but still haven't quite found the point where I'm feeling consistent improvement. However, after having watched the film, I found that I was in far more control from the very first note I played (despite having had one of those days, the day before, when the fourth and fifth of my right were working so poorly that I could barely play a scale accurately). I'm not sure precisely what caused this, but while I was watching the film, I was practising applying weight to the fingers on the tabletop. Perhaps this can be practised almost equally effectively away from the piano? I've often practised the straight finger-pullbacks myself and shown it to students (to get them to feel the knuckles) but I realise now that the following two joints of the finger are what I really need to focus on stabilising. Anyway, the improvement has carried over to today, so I'm hoping that this is going to start leading to some consistency of development, finally. I'm just wondering what you think about the issue of slippery keys? This is always something of a problem on the piano at my parents house (where I have been over the holiday). For some reason, they seem to get even more slippery than the plastic on certain keyboards. After increasing the sense of grip yesterday, this has been far less of an issue. I'm convinced now that slippery keys have simplybeen exagerrating the problems of poor alignment, rather than actually creating the problem. When my hand uses it's strength properly, my upper body gets less tired and the fingers slip much less. However, it's still far easier to relax the upper body on my older piano with ivory keys (rather than end up falling into my old habit of tensing the forearm and upper body, in a vain attempt to reinforce the fingers). I've seriously been wondering whether the tendency towards plastic keys may be a major issue, among today's generation of pianists. Do you think it's possible that all these injuries may owe something to the difficulties in making a strong contact between finger and key- seeing as the finger is considerably more prone to slipping from plastic than from ivory? Similarly, does anyone know whether injuries actually more commonplace these days? Or do we simply not hear so much about musicians' injuries that were occuring in the early 20th century? Also, any good solutions for slipperiness of keys? I heard a rumour that Clifford Curzon used sandpaper on one piano, to create a slight roughness. I'm not quite sure that it's worth risking, though. I also heard a story about Rubinstein putting hairspray on keys, although that was actually to combat excessive dryness, when he was getting old, rather than to deal with an accumulation of sweat/grease upon (non-porous) plastic keys. With sweating hands, I imagine that hairspray would make for even more of a disaster. I once tried talcum powder, but that actually ends up causing less grip through a similarly excessive dryness. Anyway, cheers for uploading that masterclass! It saves me having to buy your DVD now. Only joking! I'd rather like to get a copy (possibly a few, to sell on to some of my students). I saw another post where a discount was suggested for those who own the book. What sort of price would you be able to offer as a book owner/ for purchase of four or five etc? (Is Seymor Fink's DVD easy to follow, by the way? I bought his book and (while this probably makes me sound exceedingly lazy) after scanning across various chapters, I soon realised that I would probably need to start by obtaining a degree in physiology, if I wanted to learn a single thing from it. Is his DVD more user-friendly?) Also, (although I see that not many people have posted in the video section) I'd be extremely grateful for your views on a video of my current playing sometime, so I'll try to upload something new on youtube soon. I haven't put anything up since I started making major technical changes, but I've been working a lot on an approach to Vallee D'Obermann (under heavy inpiration from Nyiregyhazi) which has almost come together now. Here's a short film of how I used to play, if you're interested. The weak link between 1 and 2 is extremely obvious (with the thumb often looking exceedingly limp) and I can also see how much the knuckles are bobbing up and down rather than properly channeling the forces in. Hopefully this has changed a lot now, but I'll try to upload something current within a week or so. Anyway, apologies for the rather unstructured nature of this post, but I'd be interested to hear Alan's (and anyone else's) views on some of these different issues. Also, happy new year! Andrew

Hello Andrew, I am glad the master class video helped, your responses are nice to hear. Yes, indeed a lot of these things for the hand can be done away from the piano. In fact yesterday I told a student especially to do a rotation exercise from the piano to avoid activating the binding reflex which she develops when doing tremolandos on key. However, it's still far easier to relax the upper body on my older piano with ivory keys (rather than end up falling into my old habit of tensing the forearm and upper body, in a vain attempt to reinforce the fingers). I've seriously been wondering whether the tendency towards plastic keys may be a major issue, among today's generation of pianists. Do you think it's possible that all these injuries may owe something to the difficulties in making a strong contact between finger and key- seeing as the finger is considerably more prone to slipping from plastic than from ivory? Similarly, does anyone know whether injuries Fascinating question, I never thought about it. I just wrote about playing Horowitz's piano elsewhere on this forum: they have removed the original keyboard and the key tops are not ivory. This bothered me for about two seconds, after which I was simply in love with the instrument. But I know what I'm doing (more or less) technically - might someone who hasn't had a lot of experience on ivories be missing something in the kinesthetic memory that helps hand consolidation? When I bought my old Ehrbar I had my technician gather a set of ivories from FIVE old uprights and replace the plastics. I am a NUT for ivory keys and really love the difference they make. Rubinstein had hair spray put on the keys because the tuner had CLEANED the ivories so they lost the stickiness they had from being dirty. His rule was NEVER CLEAN THE KEYS. As far as I understand it, it didn't have to do with dryness and old age. I believe we offer a 15% discount for five copies. I am discussing with my manager the idea of increasing this discount for "Craft of Piano Ambassadors" which it sounds like you might be interested in becoming. I think the best thing to do is write Jovan at (email removed, use PM instead) and come to an agreement. I think we could arrange something that is somewhere between the 15% we have posted at our online store and the 30% dealer discount. The DVD IS easier to follow than the book. It is slightly pedantic but there is indeed some very effective stuff in there. I have written elsewhere about my mini-enlightenment brought on by section 12C... Here's a short film of how I used to play, if you're interested. I enjoyed this very much! A pleasure to hear and watch. Your hands look fine to me, there is a lot of differentiation and I even like your thumbs. Yes, there is a bit of a collapse between 1 & 2, but there's a well-individuated look to your thumb that I like a lot. Of course, the microphones on video handy cams leave a lot to be desired so I can't really tell if more orchestration might be needed or not, but your sound is gentle and full, well-controlled in the best sense - your are really sensitive to what you're doing. Nice! Hmm I was going to ask you to post this in the student video discussion group, but you are already teaching and playing very well - I guess I'll have to make a third, intermediate video discussion group category... Happy New Year to you as well! AFF

[Hi, Sorry I didn't reply to this before. Thanks for having a look at the Godowsky! My hands don't look too bad in that one, but if you want an idea of just how inefficiently I had been tending to move, you can see it here: I think my deficiencies were actually at their most pronounced in simple passages like these. Anyway, I did film myself playing Vallee D'Obermann the other day, although my camera didn't pick it up terribly well due to bad light. I'll probably try again now tomorrow. There unnecessary movements that I noticed and the structure of my hand isn't yet as pronounced as I would have hoped, but hopefully I've managed to improve a little more since I became aware of these remaining flaws. Anyway, I'll let you know when I've uploaded something from since I started to make changes. Incidentally, things are still working consistently well in practise, since I started gripping more with the end joint of my fingers. Although I've been slow to get going in the first place on some days, I haven't yet had a day on which I have failed to make decent progress, since before Christmas. I don't think I've ever managed to go for so long without hitting a wall and starting to play like absolute crap again before. At the least, when things don't work well to start with, I now know how to get the right workings back- even if it takes lots of slow practise. I'm finding the exaggerated overlapping legato VERY useful at the moment. I was aware of this method in the past and had tried it without sucess, but since I've changed the way I move, I can now feel the benefits. There are times when I find it hard to play from close to the keys without a degree of tension in the forearm, but I'm finding this to be an excellent way to get the freedom back and return to concise finger work. I've been surprised just how easily I can feel the transfer of weight with minimal finger movements, after having done this. As you say, it's like I don't to move much, once I've felt the right organisation. I just discovered that there are countless places although the sounds of the notes were joining, the physical movements were not. This method is really starting to expose the bumps that had been slowing me down (such as a tremendously pronounced one from every 3-4 at the start of op. 10 no. 4). I'm also starting to find that I can now spot the difference in a student's hand, between this type of internallly felt legato and mere legato in sound. I'm also using the that rotation method from Taubmann from time to time, however. Although I'm certainly not going to start using rotation as a basis for technique, I have found that it is an excellent way to get the forearm fully relaxed when warming up is not going as planned. It also gives a very similar sense of properly transferring balance between two consecutive fingers. I'm probably going to try this from time to time, when it's obvious that a student has a tendency to lock their forearm. Although your approach has been very helpful in my teaching, I do find that there are some students who seem to respond best if I start with getting them to relax their arms properly, before talking about the hand itself. Anyway, my question here is largely about teaching others. I was wondering, in your next book, do you think that you might include a chapter very specifically aimed at teachers, who would like to pass these concepts on to students? I have been having a great deal of success with improving the hand position of some students (both beginners and advanced) by using some of your exercises (as well as a few I've been making up myself). In truth, I'd never really had much idea about how to solve a persisently collapsing end joint on the 2nd finger before, although I've recently discovered that it's perfectly possible to use exercises to fix that. However some students have struggled more than others and I don't yet have the experience to figure out solutions in every case. Some students particularly struggle pull the fingers back towards the hand from the knuckle. I've since realised that the exercise in which the finger by being aligned straight down (with the wrist gradually dropping) can help to produce a supportive knuckle, but even that has proved a little difficult for some students. Similarly, the gripping between 1 and 2 on the keys usually produces a good arch, but I had one student who simply couldn't get the knuckle to raise up in that position. If you could provide a section that lists common problems and ways of helping to fix them, I think that could be exceptionally useful. Similarly, it would be extremely helpful if you could highlight any specific potential dangers for working with an underdeveloped hand. I've recently been talking a lot with students about the gripping with the last joint of the finger and starting by getting them to hold the mid-joint still, so they can sense the muscles that moves the end. I've also been getting them to practise pulling back on the table top, with that end of the finger. At times, I have been getting them to place a fingertip on the key with the hand hanging below, then grip with that muscle- to feel just how much pressure can be applied to a fingertip with the combination of grip and armweight. However, I'm just thinking to myself that this could potentially be risky, for students who have little experience at using these muscles. Personally I can do it until my nails go white, the pressure is so intense. However, could deploying such pressure from to a fingertip actually be dangerous for some people? I had always thought in terms of feeling the weight fully, before starting to withold it. However, could full use of weight upon a single fingertip be too much? Do you have any particular advice about such exercises? I'm sure that they can be useful, but I certainly don't want to find myself inadvertently causing an injury, by pushing someone too far before they are ready. Obviously I stress that nothing should feel strained or painful, but it would be really useful if you could point out any particular warning signs that might arise. Personally I teach beginners and advanced students alike and any general advice on different situations would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Andrew

Dear Andrew, It is so gratifying to receive your post. You are really understanding and using the ideas I've been developing in a wonderful way, and I have nothing but praise for the way you are thinking and working. Your whole first few paragraphs are a great example of clear thinking and sensitive, intelligent action - my hat's off to you! More specifics below... This is great. I too have seen the wealth of value in Taubman's rotation techniques in many instances, notwithstanding the fact that the logic breaks down at high speeds. I keep trying to make it clear that we are not in opposing "camps," and that developing a comprehensive approach is going to encompass many different approaches, some which may on the surface appear to contradict others. I too am still working to find solutions to individual cases where the organization is unusual and doesn't respond to anything I've come up with so far. You need to think functionally and often to improvise a solution on the spot. One very young child simply couldn't stand her hand up and form an arch - her physiognomy wasn't ready. But when I had her play a game of lifting each finger really high before it went into its key, her arch manifested very nicely. YES! It is indeed potentially risky! You must take care to monitor the development first of the muscle's FUNCTION and then of its strength. Most of my vigorous exercises are NOT to build strength but to ACTIVATE A DORMANT FUNCTION. Once the function is felt, it is best to develop it further through fine, low-effort work - using less to achieve more. Letting rich sensation be the teacher is the surest way of avoiding injuries. THANK YOU so much for voicing these concerns. Early on, when I was still developing my ideas about hand structure & function, I actually stood a couple of students up into their firm arch structure too quickly, and they developed tendonitis. More recently I had another student who solved her tendonitis problem by working with my ideas of structure and function, only to, one day before her final exam, let herself go and "finally just play and enjoy herself. " She went back to her old habits, stopped using her structure well, and because she was now playing with a more robust sound, quickly stressed out her hand so much that she could not play her final exam and was out of commission for a YEAR AND A HALF. Happily she has now graduated and is working as an accompanist, playing several hours a day in complete pianistic health. You cannot be too careful in monitoring just how each student assimilates these ideas. Yes they are potent, and yes they can be dangerous if misused! The fact that you are asking these questions shows that you are already taking a very wise approach to the problem. I don't get cases of unexpected tendonitis any more, because over the years I have familiarized myself with many different movement styles, physical organizations, and generally can now recognize what approach is going to give the best results. I learned through experience, and sometimes it was painful! And yes I will try to codify some of this experience to help others out and try to reduce the number of times we must learn from our mistakes - because when a student's pianistic health is in question, mistakes are a very costly affair... Thank you, Andrew! AFF

YES! It is indeed potentially risky! You must take care to monitor the development first of the muscle's FUNCTION and then of its strength. Most of my vigorous exercises are NOT to build strength but to ACTIVATE A DORMANT FUNCTION. Once the function is felt, it is best to develop it further through fine, low-effort work - using less to achieve more. Letting rich sensation be the teacher is the surest way of avoiding injuries. AFF Thanks for the tips! I suspect that I have indeed been portraying certain things a little too much in terms of strengthening, rather simply sensing what the less used muscles can do, so it's certainly something that I'll watch out for. Presumably, even where strengthening is required, to actually use the word strength can give the wrong impression (like referring to movements in terms of muscular tension). Recently I've been finding that since I found a better grip from the fingers, I'm having few problems getting blood into the hands properly. In the past, I could often feel my hands going extremely cold (even on days that were far from cold). I'm starting to think that healthy movements will readily stimulate plenty of blood flow (both in the short-term and the long-term), whereas unhealthy ones give a feeling of blocking off the supply. A bit of generalisation, obviously, but would you agree that this is a reasonably healthy yardstick for students? By the way, can I ask you a little about general Feldenkrais? Can it do a lot of good for a shorter leg? I noticed ages ago that my shoes wear down more considerably on the right. I also tend to feel a certain kind of compression on my left hip (which would presumably correspond with trying to compensate for that leg being a little longer, by squashing down on that side). Strangely enough, doing proper legato on the piano made me realise that, when walking, I haven't been feeling the balance on the right leg properly. I've also been discovering that when seated at the piano (or anywhere), my weight is not evenly distributed. If I physically pull the right buttock across, I feel more balanced, but I cannot achieve this posture without using my arms to help. One thing I've been wondering about is the role of the pedals in playing. Can the fact that the right pedal is in constant use be related to any such imbalance? Similarly, what do you think about Horowitz putting his left leg back? I used to do this a lot and wonder whether this is also responsible for certain postural issues. Anyway, sorry if that's rather back and forth, but I'm wondering if all these things may be interconnected in some way. I tend to feel slightly twisted to my left side in general (and pushing my right shoulder back to the position my left naturallyrests in causes a lot of grinding). Do you know any good Feldenkrais practitioners in Birmingham (UK)? I'm guessing that it would be a good way to improve some of these things? Also, do you know any piano teachers who are especially good for technical issues?

The misalignment you are talking about here might be helped by Feldenkrais but it is also possible it might be best addressed by a chiropractor. I had one leg shorter than the other, and I could not turn my head as far to the right as to the left. I did a good deal of Feldenkrais (awareness through movement exercises), and though I got rid of a lot of inefficiency in my movements, these larger patterns were unaffected. Then more recently I began treatment with a chiropractor who specializes in adjusting the top joint between the spine and the head, the "atlas joint" (this kind of chiropractic is called "upper cervical chiropractic" and here in the US the practitioners use the acronym NUCCA, or National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association). Although success was not immediate, I can now turn my head fully to the right as well as to the left, and my legs are of equal length -- at least when I am still in alignment. The trouble I currently have is that I don't stay in alignment very long, gradually drifting out every couple of weeks. When I go out of alignment now, I notice that it seems to affect my accuracy at the piano: I start making many more unaccountable mistakes. Also, I have much more trouble keeping parallel octaves parallel. Apparently this kind of misalignment of the atlas joint is often acquired originally by a bump on the head of some sort, often in a fall. Poor handling of the head when a person is under anesthesia can be another cause. Mine probably came from a bicycle accident years ago where someone opened a car door in front of me and I landed hard on my chin and hands. --Rush

The misalignment you are talking about here might be helped by Feldenkrais but it is also possible it might be best addressed by a chiropractor. I had one leg shorter than the other, and I could not turn my head as far to the right as to the left. I did a good deal of Feldenkrais (awareness through movement exercises), and though I got rid of a lot of inefficiency in my movements, these larger patterns were unaffected. Then more recently I began treatment with a chiropractor who specializes in adjusting the top joint between the spine and the head, the "atlas joint" (this kind of chiropractic is called "upper cervical chiropractic" and here in the US the practitioners use the acronym NUCCA, or National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association). Although success was not immediate, I can now turn my head fully to the right as well as to the left, and my legs are of equal length -- at least when I am still in alignment. The trouble I currently have is that I don't stay in alignment very long, gradually drifting out every couple of weeks. When I go out of alignment now, I notice that it seems to affect my accuracy at the piano: I start making many more unaccountable mistakes. Also, I have much more trouble keeping parallel octaves parallel. Apparently this kind of misalignment of the atlas joint is often acquired originally by a bump on the head of some sort, often in a fall. Poor handling of the head when a person is under anesthesia can be another cause. Mine probably came from a bicycle accident years ago where someone opened a car door in front of me and I landed hard on my chin and hands. --Rush Hmm. Sounds interesting. I also have considerably more tension in my neck when turning to the left, so this may well be a similar thing. I also find that the muscles in my back and shoulders are considerably less developed on the right side of my body (despite being left handed). Strangely enough, regardless of whether I am turning to the left or the right, I can feel the muscles in the left side of my back (which are permananetly more tense) coming into use, but not those in the right. I find it very difficult to even sense the equivalent feeling on that side.

...it was discovered by F.M. Alexander a long time ago and is called 'Alexander Technique'. The goal of being educated in the technique is, to eventually learn by yourself, how this 'alignment' can be achieved and to hone-in on what specific stimuli lead to a reaction, which influences this alignment.

...it was discovered by F.M. Alexander a long time ago and is called 'Alexander Technique'. The goal of being educated in the technique is, to eventually learn by yourself, how this 'alignment' can be achieved and to hone-in on what specific stimuli lead to a reaction, which influences this alignment. He discovered the atlas joint? Or the idea of the body being aligned? Without wishing to downplay the successes of the methods, osteopathy predates Alexander by a long time. He didn't invent the idea of skeletal alignment.

..it was discovered by F.M. Alexander a long time ago and is called 'Alexander Technique'. The goal of being educated in the technique is, to eventually learn by yourself, how this 'alignment' can be achieved and to hone-in on what specific stimuli lead to a reaction, which influences this alignment. I am aware of the Alexander technique, and I know that it is great for improving physical alignment where the misalignment is a result of physical tension and/or incorrect mental mapping of body structure (just as the Feldenkrais method is). So, as I understand it, it would correct tilting or misalignment of the head and spine that is maintained by habits of unbalanced muscular contraction, just as Feldenkrais would. I believe that what NUCCA corrects, though, is something different: an actual mechanical displacement of the scull where it sits on its "platform" on the Atlas joint at the top of the spine, such that it sits at a slight angle rather than perfectly upright relative to the spine. This misalignment is not produced by physical tension or incorrect mental mapping, nor is it corrected by relieving them; instead its correction requires the exertion of a carefully directed force against the joint to replace the skull to its normal upright resting position (where it is ordinarily held tightly in place by natural muscle tonus). If you have information that Alexander specifically addressed this kind of mechanical displacement of the skull on the Atlas, please tell me more--I would be very interested to hear about it. --Rush