In Alan's own words: "Probably the best lecture I have ever given".
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.
Ever wondered if something was missing in your playing but you couldn't pin it down?
Alan covers a few important concepts in this short episode such as paying attention to everything in the score
A wonderful demonstration of orchestration at the piano
But it shouldn't be imposed or forced
Always be moving. Finger action evolves out of the phrase movement.
The hand is related to the body, it's movable and breathing
How do we orchestrate in Bach?
It's all done with the wrist
We are talking about the controlling the keyboard and sound production and Alan claims it all happens before we even play
Orchestration is done with articulation instead of dynamics
