Technique and methods

I wish to tell in a few words what is the pianist work during daily study and performance. That is what the pianist always must do. The pianist must contemporarily: 1) To find the general muscular relaxation 2)...

Hi, just realized the subtle, yet very notable difference it is for me, to regularly trill (piano, pianissimo) in the higher register of the keyboard, where keys have very little resistance. The lower I trill, the e...

Hi, I think we're pretty much in agreement on the gravity issue now, but I'd just like to raise a couple more points- which I think goes a long way towards explaining the disagreement. I realised that there is a ba...

I've been thinking a lot about this recently and am wondering if there are any thoughts on the idea of pulling slightly via the arm's muscles, rather than releasing/pushing? I've been thinking a lot about how pushing bas...

Just wrote a new post with a couple of exercises for the arms- to illustrate the difference between one-sided and two-sided system of balancing the arm. Arguably, the main one is a feldenkrais style awareness exercise, t...

Hi, I was glad to find your forum looking for help regarding my left hand. Having returned to playing again last year, in recent months I've been making progress with stride style left hand. In my excitement of finally...

I have recently been struggling with the some new pieces I am learning. My teacher says I play very beatifully (tone, touch, phrasing), but then there comes a point that a note is rushed and that really destroys the be...

Hi all, so here is my problem right now. Right forearm muscles get tense. But!!! I know what you're thinking: wrong movement, no arch, no arm weight/balance, etc, etc, all the usual stuff... BUT! Here's the caveat: I...

Hi, I am struggling with acquiring speed in some of the repertoire I am studyiing. For example, the left hand in the excerpt bellow from Beethoven Sonata 19 Op.49 no. 1 (Rondo). The movement is allegro and I would lik...

It just occurred to me that the big problems with some of the physics oriented approaches of old lies within the spectacularly oversimplified explanations of the fulcrum. To think of the knuckles as being a fixed fulcrum...

Dear Alan, my 4th and 5th fingers keep being weak and "entangled". Every time I play a passage that requires to go rapidly through the 3rd to the 4th finger, the latter barely presses the key. Can you recommend and e...

Just written a new post covering various issues: While the last one was about perceiving the fullest sense of release possible, this one is about starting to put some activity back in at the shoulder. There's an e...

I just received the book, "The Craft of Piano Playing." I read the first couple of chapters. I'm a bit concerned it doesn't address my specific situation, which is that I'm a beginner (or advanced beginner) concerned pri...

While I use a mirror for almost all of my practise, I don't have room on the left side of my acoustic piano and always keep it on the right. The other day I played on a friend's piano and they had a mirror on the left. W...

Hi, I just purchased the Alan Fraser "The Craft of Piano Playing". From what I am understanding is that the thumb should be some what flat on the keys or almost. My question is that if I understand this correctly...

Hi Alan This might be pure b..l but it's been on my mind for a while. Many elements in pianotechnique are by nature contradictory. I find eg a firm arch somewhat in contradiction with sceletality. Been working lately...

I have just reached the minimum tempo for ABRSM's Grade 4. Alan's method is extraordinary. It made me discover how much energy was spent where it shouldn't. However I have certain doubts about going further in 1 bpm/day...

My current teacher said to do some Hanon patterns. I'm not going to question her; but it's interesting to read some the statements in that book from a Feldenkrais perspective. For one thing, it purports to make all the f...

Hi, I was wondering if these two piano methods are similar?

Greetings all. I signed up to this wonderful forum recently with the intent of asking a few questions, and have finally managed to organise my thoughts in such a way to be intelligible. That said, I'm going to chuck down...

I have a lot on my mind, in no particular order.... It would be really nice to be able to play while "letting my fingers" go, and to not have to curve the fingers to get a sense of control. It really is a false sense...

I have a problem that creates a problem for me from the very first exercise in Craft of Piano. I can't straighten my thumb. Under normal conditions, the most the proximal joint opens is 135 degrees. By using a lot of ten...

Some pedagogues have claimed that loud playing actually requires greater relaxation and less effort than soft playing. Is that true? Gerhard Mantel made that point in regards to cello playing and claimed that the sam...

Shawn Lane was a virtuoso guitarist and a highly gifted all-round musician. Among his influences were pianists like Hofmann and Gould. These are some of the most interesting advice on how to acquire virtuosity. It foc...

Although I took five years of piano as a kid, nothing was said about technique and I think mine was terrible. I'm just starting to explore good technique "for real." I'm aware how weak my fifth finger is. The middle k...