Are techniques regional?

[dinosaurtales]

The reason I ask is that I just returned from a piano festival with absolutely superb faculty, both from Europe and the US.  Some of the techniques that were used and taught were very different, such as techniques for doing leaps and big loud chords.  Does anybody happen to know about various techniques taught in various areas?

[happyface94]

There are definitly different school techniques. Whether or not they're area based or ethnic based is unknown to me.

[i_m_robot]

they most likely are

and just as cultures spread so do the ideas of technique

[BoliverAllmon]

which would you consider better? I mean which school of technique?

[dinosaurtales]

It would be difficult for me to say, since I am no expert in any of the techniques that were taught.  But the Europeans, for example, advocated doing leaps maintaining an almost constant  tiny distance between the fingers and the keyboard.  Their hands very rarely went more than, say, a half inch from the keybed. The Americans, however, would "spring" from one chord to the next by defining an arc that sort of "defined" the distance between the chords, and so their hands were considerably higher off the keys at the top of the arc. 

I hear nothing of either technique here in Portland, which is why I asked the question.  Anybody know?

[shoshin]

Well most regions use the thumb over and the thumb under techniuqe, but Australians use the down under thumb technique.