Topic: Motorics and Technique (Read 2648 times)

m · on: September 08, 2005, 06:37:14 PM

Following Bernhard’s idea, I thought that it would be the best to start a new topic on the subject and not to highjack the “Who is the best” topic, so here it goes:

Quote from: bernhard on September 07, 2005, 06:44:56 PM

For instance, in relation to motoric abilities, how much is inborn

Of course it is very individual and depends on many factors. It is like some people were
born for running short distances, some for long ones.
Some kids from the very beginning have excellent motorics and very natural approach and contact with keyboard. Their reflexes, reaction, natural adaptivity, and very often their IQ are some of the factors here. But most of all is the quality of teaching from the very beginning.

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how much is training; how far can one push it…

Motorics, as anything else (including musicality) can be and should be trained. I strongly believe anybody could do anything, providing the person really wants it. Our body and is an amazing mechanism, and we never know all its potential. There are so many examples when less talented people due to their incredibly hard work in fact, achieved much more than their even prodigiously talented peers.
Ambitions, motivation, will, and burning desire are above all here. Of course good teacher is essential. If the kid studies with a teacher, who is able to find a contact with the student, understand student’s strengths and weaknesses, and methodically go through all the steps of building strong foundation, any “normal” (meaning that there are no any major inborn motorical problems) and motivated kid by age 15-16 should be an accomplished pianist.

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how general / specific to the task it is; and how does it relate to technique - which I like to define as a way of doing things).

I like to treat it with my students as a specific task. The main idea is a complete relaxation and immediate release of the weight and any pressure, ones the key has been taken. I like to start it slowly with 5finger pattern and scales from the beginning, so the student can fully concentrate on the task. I stress that it is actually a very hard mental work and needs a lot of concentration and control. Ones students reach the level when it becomes “their second nature” we usually increase the tempo, and so on. Later we do it on all kinds of etudes—Heller, Burgmuller, Czerny (sorry Bernhard, for this purpose I find them invaluable. Moreover, you can extract and master as a task all the numerous patterns, including double notes, octaves, all kinds of arpeggios, etc. Needless to mention, ones it is done and the etude complete, I immediately give to the student some beautiful pieces using the same pattern, so immediately they can learn how to apply it to music, and see the pattern in relation to music and its progression.) The stress is on absolute relaxation, evenness, uniformity of touch, phrasing, dynamics, etc.

Here comes the question of correlation of motorics and technique.
Of course they are related, although not always. In another thread I already mentioned a friend of mine, who played the most phenomenal Chopin 10/2 right after 10/1, without even a second of rest. He played all the Chopin etudes flawlessly. But he notoriously could not play one passage in Beethoven or Mozart Sonata evenly.

The technique is in one’s head. It is absolute control, precise calculation, absolute realization of what you want at the certain point. And most of all--what sound do you want, and how you produce it.
Technique is a hard mental work, and ultimately is a tool for expressing one’s ideas.

Being a professional, I know how much work it took for a passage played flawlessly, and respect this hard work deeply.
My adrenaline goes up when I hear a passage played evenly and beautifully. I enjoy immensely listening to people with great technique. For me the great technique means that it was put to serve music, to create and express its emotion, energy, and passion. Besides, it just sounds… professionally.

The idea of technique as a speed for sake of speed is just contrary to what I’ve been taught whole my life, to how I am working myself, and what I am trying to pass to my students.

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