Structure-Supported Slap

Hi, When I was watching the DVD section on the structure supported slap, I was reminded of a section in Ruth Slenczynska's biography where she talks about how Rachmaninoff made her practice: high fingers and staccato. This reminded me of your demonstration in the video where you stand on one finger and slap vigorously with another finger staccato. How does playing with high fingers (structure-supported slap), staccato benefit the technique and how does it differ from the the other method you describe where you lift your fingers but you don't play staccato? pp16

Nice question! What you describe is simply the combining of two very effective techniques I show in the film. This is what I like to see: the ideas I present lead you to conduct your own investigations and draw your own conclusions that arise from your own experience. Great! This combination is wonderful because it hyper-charges your fingers, giving them an absolutely maximal feeling of their power and moveability. Remember, power derives not from force, but from . The sensation of this is markedly different from that of power in the traditional sense. Moshe Feldenkrais: "Any truly efficient movement will be perceived as effortless, no matter how forceful it is." But the learning of this type of movement may well initially require a sense of a new type of effort, as dormant muscle patterns are stimulated to come to life... One reason I didn't show the combination you describe is simple: my director kept holding me to a 90-minute film, and I couldn't put everything in! Best wishes, AFF