Stronger Tone

I am able to play more relaxed now and my fingers stopped shaking almost completely. I think it's rather a muscular cordination problem than a neurological one. I still have several questions. I have many demo songs on my yamaha piano and I am surprised to find out how strong, loud yet so smooth the tone is. If I play with the master volume at 75% I hear myself but the overall volume is rather weak. If I start one of the demo songs I can barely listen at a comfortable level with the master at 50%. Is this something that comes with practice/experience/time? What can I do to strengthen the tone? What can I do to obtain more control on the nuances in order to reveal the difference between a and to mark the accents distinctly without getting too loud(without hitting the key too brutally)....I hope you understand what am I trying to say. And a last question to Mr. Fraser. Do you organize a summer school in Novi Sad or at least some workshops? If you do, I am planning to come and stay for a couple of days in Novi Sad this summer because I have many things to clear out which I think is almost impossible from distance. Hope to hear from you. I am just 2 or 3 hours away from Novi Sad and I think it would be a helpfull and pleasant experience. Even if I play mainly guitar I am also looking to improve my piano tehnique.

Glad to hear the shaking stopped. A good explanation, yes, that it was a "muscular problem not a neurological one." Although, of course it is the neurology that controls the muscles! Most important, how did you evoke that improvement? You improved your SKELETAL ORGANIZATION. You learned how to let the bones do more and the muscles less - that's the real reason they stopped shaking: they stopped being stressed out. You can continue this line of work to improve your tone and strength. For starters, even simply make your fingers into one-jointed sticks and poke the keys with them. You will discover an astonishing thing: when NO JOINTS COLLAPSE AT ALL, the tone can be as loud and as juicy as you like with no harshness. The trick is to now transfer that extreme skeletal feel to the more complicated situation of having to move the fingers and often even curve or curl them to get around the demands of the music. As for you last question, yes I will be in Novi Sad for much of this summer. No courses have been scheduled as of yet for reasons too complex to go into here, but I WILL make sure to make some teaching time available. It might be even more productive for you to come for individual lessons where I won't have so many other obligations to minimize my time with you. The downside of that scenario is that you don't get to see me working with others, to see how similar themes find a different manifestation depending on the person's technical style. Let's play it by ear; let me know when you might be able to come. AFF

I'm free from the 2nd half of June until the end of September. I would like to attend both courses and individual lessons. We'll keep in touch and clear things out when you will have a schedule. Thank you very much.

As I am leaving for the States and Canada June 17, we are probably looking at the end of August or September for your visit. You might want to come at the end of August for the World Piano Conference organized by my colleague Dorian Leljak. There will be a lot of great talks and performances by pianists from all over - it's a really great opportunity to meet and talk with colleagues. And I will be presenting at the conference as well as teaching in the summer course that will be held alongside it. AFF