I Play Piano
I absolutely adore Chopin and Liszt’s Etudes but my hands are small and I’m not strong enough to play them :(
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SomeMichGuy · M
? Strong enough? To activate a piano which is properly regulated only takes ounces of touch...?
If you really are straining, then I think you are laboring under some of the non-ergonomic notions of some of the received technique.
Gyorgy Sandor's On Piano Playing is what he came up with in response to a traditional technique which may not work with your body, and which--even more damningly--does not aid in the production of sound & playing of pieces.
If you are straining, something is wrong. Learn from Leon Fleischer...
If you really are straining, then I think you are laboring under some of the non-ergonomic notions of some of the received technique.
Gyorgy Sandor's On Piano Playing is what he came up with in response to a traditional technique which may not work with your body, and which--even more damningly--does not aid in the production of sound & playing of pieces.
If you are straining, something is wrong. Learn from Leon Fleischer...
jennypenny · 70-79, F
Fleisher is a bit out of my class! @SomeMichGuy
SomeMichGuy · M
@jennypenny ...he hurt himself because of straining under the traditional technique, it seems.
that was my point
that was my point
jennypenny · 70-79, F
No ut was when he caught his hand on a chair. That started the problem @SomeMichGuy
SomeMichGuy · M
@jennypenny focal dystonia, his condition, isn't caused by chairs...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_dystonia
The causes are unknown but the results are that mappings in the brain of what are normally distinct areas for each muscle group become indistinct. For highly trained fingers, this can happen in primates...
So it isn't a leap to link technique with this, bc overtraining seems to be implicated.
If you have seen pianists strain and sweat when they are doing little, that sort of strain is not consistent with ergonomic technique.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_dystonia
The causes are unknown but the results are that mappings in the brain of what are normally distinct areas for each muscle group become indistinct. For highly trained fingers, this can happen in primates...
So it isn't a leap to link technique with this, bc overtraining seems to be implicated.
If you have seen pianists strain and sweat when they are doing little, that sort of strain is not consistent with ergonomic technique.
jennypenny · 70-79, F
I am just going by what he said himself - that it began to happen when he cut his hand on a garden chair @SomeMichGuy
Lucy01 · 22-25, F
@SomeMichGuy have you any idea how much power and energy it takes to play Chopin's Op 10 No 4 or Op 25 No 12 properly
SomeMichGuy · M
@Lucy01 Yes, but I have seen pianists doing the showmanship strain thing on slow passages which required nothing, or doing all kinds of superfluous nonsense that they have incorporated as show rather than technique or sound production.
And Sandor's point is well-taken, though it wasn't appreciated at the U. of Michigan School of Music. [Julliard had a different take on him.]
It takes ounces to set a well-regulated (grand-style) piano's action into motion, and the use of technique which works WITH your body to help you produce music in a far more tireless fashion makes sense as well as being far healthier.
And Sandor's point is well-taken, though it wasn't appreciated at the U. of Michigan School of Music. [Julliard had a different take on him.]
It takes ounces to set a well-regulated (grand-style) piano's action into motion, and the use of technique which works WITH your body to help you produce music in a far more tireless fashion makes sense as well as being far healthier.
jennypenny · 70-79, F
What can you play? @SomeMichGuy
SomeMichGuy · M
@Lucy01 yeah but I think of stamina as being something you need to climb El Capitan or Halfdome, to run a marathon...
part of Sandor's observations are about not doing straining motions (keep most of your muscle/movements in the center of the ranges, don't use positions which count on having muscles in an extreme position) and not doing the wrong type of repetitive motions (you do things which allow muscles to contract and relax, you don't strain them by keeping them in the same position and throwing your hands at the keys).
In the end, he advocates using the natural continuous change of positions to give you...stamina...at the keyboard because you are always allowing muscles to rest and then be used in a cyclic way...
part of Sandor's observations are about not doing straining motions (keep most of your muscle/movements in the center of the ranges, don't use positions which count on having muscles in an extreme position) and not doing the wrong type of repetitive motions (you do things which allow muscles to contract and relax, you don't strain them by keeping them in the same position and throwing your hands at the keys).
In the end, he advocates using the natural continuous change of positions to give you...stamina...at the keyboard because you are always allowing muscles to rest and then be used in a cyclic way...
SomeMichGuy · M
@jennypenny hmmmm...as an example, when I was in college and first heard another student play the C# min Prelude by Rachmaninoff, I went to the music library, xeroxed it, and taught myself how to play it in a week. Sounds a bit better on the 'B' than on the crappy dorm piano at that particular dorm.
But that is giving away some things...
But that is giving away some things...
Lucy01 · 22-25, F
@SomeMichGuy so what else can you play apart from the Rach Prelude? Any favourite composers?