Piano Technique: Micro-Lessons

Pithy insights to get your whole attitude toward Piano Technique moving in the right direction…

Prerequisites

LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice the right things the right way.

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Lesson Goals

To reject the mechanical finger training school of piano technique and to embrace full body choreography instead… and to realize that practice, done right, makes your brain, not your muscles tired.

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Special Note from Frank

Please let me know (frank@piano-ology.com) if you’d like to get these micro-lessons as a single PDF or zip file of MP3s.

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Pian Technique: Micro-Lessons

Technique & Interpretation are INSEPARABLE. ~fjp

How you MOVE your body is the way the music is going to SOUND and FEEL. ~fjp

Fluent Piano Technique is achieved by learning how to dance, not by training your fingers to be well behaved little hammers on the end of stick. ~fjp

Suggesting that you play the piano using only your fingers is like saying that you dance ballet using only your feet. ~fjp

BEWARE of anyone who claims that you need to build strength & endurance in order to play the piano. ~fjp

You cannot make beautiful music if you play using just your fingers, no matter how dexterous & well-trained they might be. ~fjp

Musical technique is achieved by fluid CHOREOGRAPHY, not machine-like precision. ~fjp

The solution to a technical problem is always found in the direction of MENTAL & PHYSICAL EASE. ~fjp

Never stop playing… even in-between the notes… ESPECIALLY in-between the notes! ~fjp

Playing with a musical technique is largely the process of learning how to get out of your own way. ~fjp

Even SMALL ADJUSTMENTS in how you position and move your body will absolutely LIBERATE your technique. ~fjp

Fast playing is not a matter of developing “speed”, but about cultivating ACCURACY! ~fjp

Grouping of notes into meaningful musical PATTERNS, both physically and mentally, is essential to technical freedom and ease. ~fjp

All progress in piano technique is achieved by changing your BRAIN, not by changing your muscles. ~fjp

Expert piano technique is a TEAM SPORT. Your entire body contributes to every musical idea, large and small. ~fjp

Accuracy and musicality are achieved by engaging all four MUSICAL INTELLIGENCES: AURAL, ANALYTICAL, VISUOSPATIAL, and KINESTHETIC. ~fjp

A simple, coordinated GESTURE is all that is required to play any musical pattern with freedom, ease, and confidence. ~fjp

Musical technique is always PREPARING & ANTICIPATING… mentally and physically CONNECTING one musical place to another! ~fjp

The keyboard is not a gymnasium. It’s a DANCE floor! ~fjp

Can you think of some other important insights into what piano technique is and isn’t?

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