Alan's video diary as he goes though recovery process (herniated discs in neck)
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.
The MRI shows 4 herniated discs in Alan's neck. His self-healing strategy: feed new info into the sensory-motor system
vs. mechanical sense and all that applied to piano
Don't follow the finger down into the key
We not only need to radiate the stand up motion throughout the body but also look into hand body relationship
Scriabin Op.9 No.1
The hand has this amazing capacity to individuate parts of itself from within
Creates a moving entity
Where the kinematic chain goes from finger tip through the neck into the core
Cramped shoulders and how Tai Chi helps with that
and focal dystonia might just go away
Alan is talking about specific type of tonus on the fingers complementary to the tonus of the thumb
Alan says he can "sense through" the keyboard better if his palm is down, touching the keys. Notice that he still maintains the hand structure even though his palm is flat
There is a way of not dis-empowering the MCP and really making it work
In other words, really dissect the score and learn it in a way that cultivates healing of Alan's injury
Alan is attempting to not only avoid the injury but actually heal his shoulder by approaching this segment properly
Latest update from Alan on his injury (April 2019)
