For the LOVE of Music!
Most people have heard about the fight or flight response when faced with a threat, real or imagined... ... but there's another "F" of particular interest in our discussion about stage fright: the freeze response. In an instinctual attempt to hide from predators by becoming quiet, small, and motionless... we tend to stop breathing, curl … Continue reading Performance Anxiety: The Third F
Your stress response does not end with invisible changes to the neuro-chemical processes in your brain... Stress also has the power to adversely effect our entire body posture... often without our permission and sometimes without our awareness. In my case, I discovered that I have a tendency to withdraw into the fetal position. I curl … Continue reading Performance Anxiety: Body Language
Did you know that there are four "middles" on an 88 key keyboard? Let's take them one by one and discuss why understanding where these "middles" are is so important to your piano technique. A Typical 88 Key Keyboard Before we talk about the four "middles" let's remind ourselves that a standard 88 key keyboard … Continue reading Piano Technique: Keyboard Layout: The Four “Middles”
Your thumbs are extremely special and useful in at least two respects...
Proprioception, sometimes called the sixth sense, is essential for the proper coordination of all our body motions... Proprioception in Action Let's do an experiment: Close your eyes and set your hands in your lap. With your eyes still closed, lift your left hand and touch your left index finger to the tip of your nose. … Continue reading Piano Technique: Proprioception & Visualization
The word attack is way too harsh and forceful, literally and figuratively, to describe what your body does to get a piano key to go down... But "attack" is so widely used in piano circles that using another word might cause confusion, so it will have to do for now. Two Kinds of Attacks A … Continue reading Piano Technique: Prepared or Unprepared Attack?