Pianimals warmup excericises

Episodes

1. 1 Pianimals warmup excericises intro - Connecting hands and body A detailed demonstration on how the shoulder acts as a conduit between the hand and body during piano playing, emphasizing natural movements that allow the entire body to participate in creating music 04:39
2. 2 Floating arm technique demonstration Alan is showing how to move fingers and wrists fluidly while maintaining relaxed hand posture to create beautiful sounds without stiffening 05:46
3. 3 Chapter 1 - Variations on the floating arm Alan is emphasizing the importance of keeping the elbow low and wrist flexible while playing, particularly for a student recovering from a shoulder injury 08:47
4. 4 Chapter 2 - Sassy Seal Exercises by maintaining relaxed arms while keeping fingers gently unified like a seal flipper 05:01
5. 5 Chapter 3 - Lying down while making the hand into a bird beak, Increase hand tonus and viability 03:33
6. 6 Chapter 4 - The hand lies down and now plucks the key like a chicken Alan demonstrates the "cat scratch" technique, a relaxed method of playing where students use their hands loosely like a cat scratching, emphasizing how this relaxed approach creates a warmer sound on the piano 02:23
7. 7 Chapter 5 - Sleepy Bear - Lying down again and rolling in a totally relaxed way Alan shows sleeping bear method that emphasizes lying down your hands and rolling them over the keyboard to play black and white notes with complete relaxation, helping to avoid tension and discomfort during piano practice 04:35
8. 8 Chapter 6 - The Oranguthumb Standing up on the thumb to strengthen its sense of structure. This video demonstrates a dynamic exercise that involves moving the thumb in different directions while engaging the entire body, designed to improve shoulder mobility and flexibility through guided movements and stretches 05:37
9. 9 Chapter 7 - The bird beak technique for piano playing Alan demonstrates the bird beak hand position for piano playing, focusing on proper thumb movement, connection between fingers, tonus and incorporating whole-body mechanics to enhance technique and produce a finger-pedaling effect 05:09
10. 10 Chapter 8 - Slide the fingers forward and back Increasing suppleness while maintaining thumb empowerment 04:36
11. 11 Chapter 9 - Quiet Crocodile Explores the first degree of creating some independence for the thumb from the hand 03:47
12. 12 Chapter 10 - Yawning Alligator Explores the second degree of Independence of the thumb from the hand 01:35
13. 13 Chapter 11 - Mastering the springy staccato technique for proper hand articulation We review a totally structuralized thumb and then individuates it even further from the hand. 02:51
14. 14 Chapter 12, 13 and 14 We skip chapter 12 because it was done in the introduction, and go to Chapter 13 which explores the most structuralized hand yet. Teetering Toucan was done the previous day so in this video we skip it.... But it introduces a strong hand combined with a lateral removing arm, the first indication of the arms rule as a phrase producer 06:24
15. 15 Chapter 15 - Amorphous Amoeba We return to a sensorially enriched let-go of the hand feel to melt it into the keys in a triad 04:59
16. 16 Chapter 16 - The hand as a bell clapper Here we go to the other extreme once again, making the hand literally into a high tonused but unweighted mallet 01:16
17. 17 Chapter 17 - From Walking to Running Termite Temerity, where we learn to manipulate the key instead of pressing it down. 03:10
18. 18 Chapter 18 - Fundamental differentiation between the yin and yang fingers of the hand The Tai Chi empty step. Here we see the value of preparing the ground with the thumb individuation exercises of Section II 06:15
19. 19 Chapter 19 - Undifferentiated hand Walking between two Yang fingers instead of a Yin and a Yang finger 07:38
20. 20 Chapter 20 - Snapping Scale Activates the thumb, drawing it towards the fingers but in a moving way whether rather than a static, overly structured way 14:27
21. 21 Chapter 21 - Arpeggios and stretching spider We are talking about extending the thumb without collapsing the hand arch structure 00:48
22. 22 Chapter 22 - Barmy bunnies and the idea of snapping scale Free the arm and the fingers for maximum velocity 01:51
23. 23 Chapter 23 - Slinky Snail Slinky Snail has the same kind of quick finger action, but while overholding - to inflate the hand in a deliciously free manner 00:32
24. 24 Chapter 24 - Rotating Rattlesnake We explore keeping the hand supple in an octave by pronating it and supinating it while holding onto a large interval 01:12
25. 25 Chapter 25 - Kangaroo Chords We explore growing the hand arch suddenly, as if the fingers were a diver's legs springing off a diving board 01:38
26. 26 Chapter 26 - Forte Flying Fox Forte Flying Fox is explained and dispensed with in only a few seconds, integrating the movements of the previous chapter into an actual playing situation 00:13
27. 27 Chapter 27 - Baby flamingo 39:05 Chapter 27 pronates and supinates the hand while holding a large interval, to increase the suppleness of an octave without reducing its strength and agility 01:53
28. 28 Chapter 28 - Curling the finger We finally addresse the age old question of finger curling, putting it into a more functional context of the hand's motor development. 01:29