10 years ago by
A Pianist
Communication is a 2-step process. First the information is presented, second, it is understood by the receiver. I have always seen it as my responsibility as a teacher to ensure that the student gets it and can use the material I give them effectively in their own playing. If I give a wonderful lesson but the student doesn’t advance, I see it as my fault (given they practiced!). I must find out how their brain works, what is their learning mode, which may be very different from my own.
I search for a global language: one that is so exact that it is not prone to misinterpretation. This is not easy, especially when I must use external words to describe internal physical processes. No word can communicate a sensation, we can only try to approximate. Thus when the Russian school says to sink the finger deep into the key and press to create juicy tone, I know they are right, even though I may say the opposite! I’ve been writing here about unstable equilibrium, about the standing finger that is free to move because it is free from pressure from above. And yet I see the Russians pressing in, and often I hear a wonderfully positive result! They have discovered a way to press without impinging on structure. However, I present a completely different description of the process of placing a finger on key to help cure the endemic structural collapse that happens so often when we press in.
Feldenkrais says, “If you know what you’re doing you can do what you want.” The freely standing hand educates the senses, allowing one to feel the hand’s wonderful structural potency free from constriction. If the kinesthetic picture of that freedom remains as I do press in, my sound will remain beautiful and potent as well.
Then there’s the huge problem of how to integrate the whole body into playing. Even though I am a Feldenkrais practitioner, I have avoided this for years. I was having so much fun seeing how improving the student’s hand organization often evoked a huge improvement in their whole body organization without my ever having to speak about it! When I first read Charles Aschbrenner’s website on Pulse Patterning, I was excited to find his applications of Feldenkrais principles to our playing, specifically the involvement of the pelvis in the production of sound and rhythmic energy. But I didn’t really see how crucial this involvement of the pelvis is to maintaining the organization of a well-functioning hand.
I always avoided dealing with the whole body: again, language was a problem - I saw people using such general language that there was nothing I could hang my hat on. “Relax,” or “Sit up straight” are great pieces of advice, but hardly earth-shaking in their novelty… And it seemed to me that the people who addressed the whole body always failed to address the hand itself. So of course I reacted by dealing only with the hand and failing to address the body!
Now I see that all the good I achieved for the hand reaches a dead end if it is not supported by a very specific whole-body organization. It is not just about sitting up straight or relaxing the arms. It is about a subtle, integrated involvement of the pelvis in the movements of the hand on the board. I hesitate to even write this because I know many readers will go and try this idea out with too much strain, too obvious a movement. I know that’s what I did when I first read about pulse pattering and communicated with Charles about it. But the light bulb went on for me when I finally met Charles and saw him demonstrate his theories: such subtle, almost imperceptible pelvic movements and yet what a huge change to his piano sound!
Since then I have been investigating this fascinating link: the hand and the pelvis as mirrors of one another, the reverse cupola of the pelvis being free and floating to empower the cupola of the hand to float effortlessly. The huge change in piano sound when this link is made belies the minimal size of the actual movements involved.
More later, I must go and practice - put my money where my mouth is!
AFF
