Technique and methods

Hi there. I have a problem when playing arpeggios or passages involving the 4th and 5th finger on the last two notes(the 4th on a black key and the 5th on a white one). For instance when I play the arpeggiated broken...

Hi I'm about to embark on a 3-month contract in Denmark so I won't have a piano for a while but proabably plenty of spare time not watching Danish TV! What are the best techniques in learning repetoire away from the...

In the video, there is an exercise that involves raising the arch of the hand without raising the wrist. In the preliminary stages of practicing that exercise, do you think that there would be any benefit to practicing...

Hi, I am practising some forte octaves using "levers" and I think i am gradually finding the correct coordination to perform an effortless weightless forte. I find keeping the 5th finger flat to be tricky sometimes....

I know that Mr. Fraser has referenced Thomas Mark's book, , on several occasions. I was reading that book and came across an interesting point, namely that the speed with which the hammer strikes the string is the sole...

Here's a baby example for right hand, yet I can't play it quickly (in legato). C-B-C-D-C 4-3-4-5-4 Question to Alan and those who mastered Alan's technique: when you play this example at fast legato, you: 1) pla...

When i received the second book of Professor Fraser Honing the pianistic self image i tried to fix several bad habits i had in my playing. Something that always troubled me was the feeling that the finger manipulates...

Hi, I'm a student pursuing a Bachelor's in Music Theory at Ithaca College. So, naturally, I'm already playing piano quite a bit. I really want to work through the book, but I want to do it in a time-effective manner t...

I finally got to the moment where I've actually started to use the book I bought quite some time ago. I've came across a real hindrance as to how the proper Arch as well as Finger Stands should really look like. The thi...

Hi Alan First, many thanks for your excellent books which together with Feldenkrais lessons have helped me overcome severe epicondylitis as well as improve my playing. I am encountering pain in my right knee when p...

Following up from the things in the other topic, I'd be interested to hear whether Alan would be more inclined to agree that seeking to feel gravity would be important- if consciously felt very little at the fingertips,...

Going back to the wrecking ball analogy/ping pong ball analogy, but in a slightly different way to before, I had an idea yesterday that I think could be very useful for the dichotomy between lightness and heaviness. Taki...

Hi, My neighbour called me today and asked if we could reduce the number of hours we practice the piano the piano every day - I can understand her - especially when the same section is being practised over and over agai...

My first new problem is related to R-L hand coordination when playing scales at a faster tempo. I played them at 40 bpm for a very long period of time, then switched to 50, 60, 80 and even 104. When playing faster my lef...

Hi there all I've been listening to Valentina Lisitsa float over the keys of chopin op.25 no.6. Then I listened to a few more artists - Sokolov, Kissin, Pollini, Ashkenazy etc. I must have listened umpteen times b...

Just been thinking a lot about this recently and I wonder what Alan would think about a kind of 'internalized' elbow out that goes on pretty much constantly- but which never notably pushes out as you play through a chord...

Hi, I am studying Chopin's prelude in E minor and I was wondering what kind of rubato should be applied there and why. I have read in some places that both Mozart and Chopin were quoted saying that the right hand melod...

Speaking of the alignment of the bones, I believe that besides the movement of "grasping" we could also add the movement of "caressing". To Get ready to caress the key to press it is not an useless movement because, i...

Partially, along the lines of the stuff I've already said here, there's another thing that occured to me that I think is one of the key fundaments that leads to a person's style of technique, from the very first note tha...

Body position, Muscular area (yellow, green and blue), point of equilibrium area (blue), point of engine area (green), point of movement area (red).

My particular situation may be different from many other students: I recently decided to try to develop a decent piano technique after several decades of "doing what came naturally". I had worse than no technique (i.e....

I am struggling to deal with significant pain in the base of my thumbs, without giving up playing for an extensive period of time, and it has led me to a way of practicing that I thought might be of interest to others...

Just written up my first specifically aimed post Interestingly enough, what I've realised as I've put this more into a practically aimed form, is that a lot of the results of are basically going to be a kinds of...

Hi. I'm a piano student at a music conservatory and have a rather puzzling question. At least I think it's puzzling. When I first auditioned to school, one of my audition pieces was a Chopin scherzo. It was around th...

I am just a beginner piano player and whenever I play for a while, I start feeling uncomfortable in the 5th finger of my Left Hand only. So I started to observe it closely as I played and I discovered the problem. As...