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Arm Weight Technique - Myth and Reality

MCMTA talk Alan gave in April 2018

Piano technique teaacher
Your teacher

Alan Fraser

Born in Montreal in 1955 Alan Fraser studied piano but also delved into composition, cello, classical singing and had several stints as a pop musician. Alan’s main pianistic influence was the pioneering research of Phil Cohen who studied alongside Ronald Turini, Andre Laplante and Janina Fialkowska with Yvonne Hubert, who had been Cortot‘s assistant in Paris. Alan spent several years with Cohen after an apprenticeship with two former Cohen students, Alan Belkin and Lauretta Milkman.

17 episodes 1:18:51 Basic Ongoing
1
Teach Your Hand to Walk 06:05

A paralel between human walking and piano walking


2
Feel The Weight of Your Arm 05:25

But it's not only that, isn't it?


3
Rich and Powerful Sound With Arm Weight Technique 06:59

Alan explains the real mechanics behind the arm weight technique


4
Eastern European Arm Weight Technique 06:56

Seems to be very vertical in it's approach but the hand needs to be "lateralized" at some point


5
Playing Chords in an Organized Way 06:43

As long as our hands are standing and not falling


6
Curling of Nail Joints 05:13

Is curling the nail joints or fingers weakening arches of the hand?


7
Loose Finger Joints and the Arm Weight Technique 04:10

We need to provide certain neurological sensory images for our brain


8
Helping Double Jointed Students 01:31

What to do when your piano student is double jointed


9
Teaching All These Piano Techniques to Young Pianists 04:47

Teaching piano is hard. How about the old "hold the apple" routine?


10
Ulnar Deviation and Piano 03:21

Another way of using our skeletal mechanics at the piano


11
Do Not Loose Your Hand Structure 03:30

It affects the sound as well as induces tension in the wrist and forearm


12
If you See the Hand Swiveling Horizontally 03:08

Then the thumb and fingers aren't functional


13
The Thumb Goes Under or Maybe Not 03:48

The oldest questions in the piano book


14
The Kind of Tension You Really Want 03:38

Being elastic without being tense


15
Two Note Slurs 05:06

What about slurs? Lots of elasticity!


16
Elastic Chords 04:27

How does all this apply to chords?


17
Fight the Stiffness with Posture 04:04

Everybody is different. Teachers should really adjust to their students