Taichi - Piano

Dear Alan, will you be able to briefly describe your main point of views in relation to Taichi and Piano? Let me put this to the other way, what are the good points you can see from Taichi + piano? I believe, the philosophy of Taichi is the Law of Natural in Piano playing. Could you please share your thoughts with me? Many thanks. kindly regards, kchy

Hi, I don't have much time to go into it in detail right now, but the essence of it is in the alignments. When the bones are aligned, when all inversions are cleared from the Tai Chi form, the quality of movement is fundamentally altered. I look for this same profound alteration of movement quality at the piano by seeing where our fingers don't really "walk" as we are taught in Tai Chi, or how they don't move from their center as in Tai Chi, or how we allow things to get out of alignment. If you read my book and watch the film, try yourself to see the parallels. I often use a principle from Tai Chi without naming it as such. Can you pick up on when I am doing this? Thanks for your question! AFF PS my Tai Chi teacher is worth checking out:

Hi Alan, That is all right. I actually got your book and DVD since they have just published. I totally understand what you meant by alignment of the boy, the walking - cat feet/walk......... there are still lots 'secret' from those theories. Except, I do not think about all this physical movement much anymore, they are a bit too complicated to be reminded to me. I can only think about ease. My biggest trouble now is mind, co-ordination with air and how to adopt energy from the NATURAL. The following idea can totally employed on piano playing: 以意領指， 以指領氣， 意到氣到， 氣到勁到 The mind leads the fingers, The fingers employ the Energy ( chi/air) therefore, when your minds is there, your energy (Chi) is there and, the power come spontaneous. It is an anonymous energy from a forceless movement and it is also according to understanding of physics and dynamics in some ways. Surely, it is a BEL CANTO tone/sound from the piano. A piano player not a person been played by a piano. By the end of the exercise, fingers are not fingers, hands' are not hands' - you are the piano! you are the air! I will be happy to know if you are the first person who understands what I am talking about . kindly regards, kchy

I do indeed understand very well what you are talking about. But you know as well as i do that if someone then they will tend to think that we both are totally loopy! ...unfortunately... AFF

"!" SUPER STRONGLY AGREE WITH YOU!! ...unfortunately... kchy

ah, what can you do... I am now editing . It's a pretty sure bet that many are going to find this new book loopy in the extreme. But I have to just give it my best shot, because the sensory-motor learning process is so valuable and so fecund, it is worth the try to put aspects of it on paper to share with a wider readership... AFF

You are absolutely right, I can do NOTHING AT ALL actually. I tried to share these ideas and concepts with people, included my past teacherS. Unfortunately, from my instinct, they all think I am not just loopy, but mad, crazy, impossible in many ways I suppose, or they would say this is just another way to play, there's nothing wrong with 'the old' ways, or even said it is just like sports - people do play differently.....well yes, or no. In my point of view now, there's no other way, only consciously + unconsciously applied with the law of Natural would work the best. It is not a 'myth' it is as "simple" as to help ourselves to have a natural functional body and it is amazing that the sound and tone can be so special after all. I like to look at the animals, the way how they walk, jump, swim, climb ....that also helps my development in piano playing ( sorry I've been 'loopy' again). I like to think about how they 'obey' the law of natural in their movements and why can't we, human being, be as natural as they do, maybe because we are TOO SMART. To be honest, I don't think I have achieved the final goal yet. This is like Tai-chi, might need lots more years for many things to settle down but I know this is a revolution in piano playing. The enjoyment in piano playing increases more and more throughout the years, it is a very interesting problem solving task to me now. I feel I have sin if I don't keep working on it. Certainly, I had really bad and difficult times at the beginning, because I had no one to discuss with and people think I am loopy - a kill to me. Thus, the whole thing ended up with I did not want to talk about it any more, except few students of mine and it has a extreme help to them in deed. Have you heard about Yong-chun Chuan? Philosophy of Yong-chun Chuan is also very interesting! I am very excited to know about the book that you are editing at the moment. I am looking forward to read your new book. I am sure I will understand it easily and it will definitely be a valuable book to me!!! It is not a 'myth', it is just as simple as to let our mind in charge of everything and to have our spine help our movement, but only if people believe it or not! kchy

Exactly! Our çerebral' mind has taken precedence over our 'somatic' mind and even our 'autonomic mind.' Hearkening back to physical sensation is a very real and effective way to reawaken the natural movement processes which are our biological and neurological heritage. About achieving the final goal...' I am in Miami right now, editing the most amazing set of Chopin etudes that has ever been recorded. I promise you, these etudes will blow your socks off! Yet Kemal, who is of course the performer in question, says he has never felt more inadequate as a pianist, has never felt that he has more yet to learn than now! So... the closer you get to the 'final goal,' the more it receeds in the distance. But this is the natural order of things. Don't be disheartened, in fact, take heart - if you feel the way you do, it means you are on the right path! AFF

çerebral' mind? "Somatic" mind? "Autonomic" mind? could you please explain!

I take the 'cerebral mind' to be the left brain, linear thinking, verbal mind that calculates everything. I take the 'somatic mind' to be the part of the brain that controls intentional movements. I take the 'autonomic mind' to be the part of the brain that controls our automatic body functions like digestion, heart beat, AND breathing. Breathing provides us with a link between the autonomic and somatic minds, allowing the wonderfully balanced quality of autonomic movement to 'bleed' into our intentional movements... And this is a part of what happens in Tai Chi... AFF