A revolutionary Feldenkrais lesson for pianists exploring the opposition between the "monster thumb" and "flickery fingers." Alan teaches precise tonus distribution from sits bones to fingertips, showing how whole-body awareness transforms piano technique through sophisticated pressure differentiation and structural support.
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.
Alan introduces the core concept: treating the hand as a "mini-body" with the same relationships as ankle-knee-hip, while demonstrating how biceps-triceps create weightlessness in piano playing
Students sit on their hands to feel sits bones as "two bicycle wheels," discovering how pelvic rocking creates spinal fluidity. "Is my sits bone massaging my hand or is my hand massaging my sits bone?"
Students explore how gripping versus floating the hand affects the pelvis, learning that identical external movements can use completely different internal muscular patterns
The thumb transforms from "cripple" to "monster" with deep pressure while fingers stay mosquito-light. Alan shares how J.S. Bach revolutionized 400 years of thumbless keyboard playing
Students practice ultra-controlled pressure release from maximum grip to barely touching, feeling how finger pressure creates chain reactions through the entire arm and body
Student questions about individual body responses, with Alan emphasizing using these movements for self-discovery rather than imposed patterns
