Seymour Flink video - Get centered at the keyboard

[drooxy]

Hi everyone,

For those of you who know that video, what do you think of
. the exercises dealing with displacements based on middle/octave D and G# ?
. his notion of "hand vocabulary" (all intervals/chords played with the same fingering...) ?

Thanks in advance for your input !

All the best !
Drooxy

[xvimbi]

I like the keyboard orientation "exercises" and using middle-D as the primary point of reference. In fact, I often start out with his suggestion of playing ppp contrary chromatic scales and little snippets of whatever I am working on in all octaves on the keyboard. The latter, I have already done way before I had ever heard of Fink.

Hand vocabulary: hmm, I am personally less convinced about this. I can see that it helps a lot in the beginning, but I am afraid it would restrict in the long run. Perhaps I am wrong, and I shouldn't resist that idea too much.

[stringoverstrung]

For those of you who know that video, what do you think of
. the exercises dealing with displacements based on middle/octave D and G# ?

This has helped me enourmously! In a few weeks time my topological knowledge has improved drastically! 
it also helps beginners to position yourself correctly (on middle D)

[drooxy]

Thanks to you two for your answers...

Any opinion on "hand vocabulary" ?

Like Xvimbi I am not fully convainced: some fingerings seem very strange if kept identical from a key to another... On an intellectual point of view, the concept seems very satisfying but is it technically a good solution ?

Nevertheless, the more I watch that video - and read the book - the more interesting I think it is...

All the best,
Drooxy

[nomis]

Positioning yourself at middle D also occurs in Super Sight Reading secrets.

[pianistimo]

all those beginning students will have to get their belly buttons moved over

seriously, i read the first few pages on amazon and liked the relaxation ideas a lot.  some people just naturally do this.  i tend to stretch before playing (simply because i'm in a habit of my own) moving the neck around and also straightening the lower back.  it does help, imo, to get you situated.  once you're there - i'm imagining he's saying not to play in unnatural locations on the keyboard if they are uncomfortable.  fingering is really important as well as what hand goes where.  i'm upstairs so i can't run and go get the barber nocturne, but i simplified some stuff for myself by taking a few notes here and there by either hand (thumb i think) that work out better (with the arpeggiated notes) so i don't have to use unnatural feeling extensions in one hand or the other.  also, with scarlatti's k 119, i originally thought you had to take those clustered seconds with two separate fingers.  voila.  my teacher said just use one finger right in the middle of the two notes.  cool. eh.  the simplest ideas seem to be the most comfortable.

where can i read more (of the rest of the book?) for free?  are there a few more pages somewhere or an article written about his technique?

[will]

where can i read more (of the rest of the book?) for free?  are there a few more pages somewhere or an article written about his technique?

There's a little at https://www.pianoatpepper.com/catalog/art_PiTechSympFink99.jsp and https://www.pianoatpepper.com/catalog/art_PiPianoSympFink3.jsp

[drooxy]

Will, thanks...

Does somebody know the book "SYMPOSIUM FOR PIANISTS AND TEACHERS
" ? Is it a good one ?

Thanks,
Drooxy

[pianistimo]

yes.  thanks, will.  now i have something to do today.

[will]

Interesting tidbit: Hamelin talks about middle D and symmetrical practice. He says that he was taught the concept by his father, who found the idea in a book of exercises by Rudolph Ganz. Cool.

[drooxy]

Hi everyone,

While working on centering myself on middle D at the keyboard (S. Flink) and aiming to improve my left hand, I imagined an exercise based on scales and I would like to have your opinions:

Play RH the major scale in the key of D:
D E F# G A B C# D                 

Play LH a scale that follows exactly the same keys pattern:
D C Bb A G F Eb D

Same reversing the hands, changing the key and the type of scale...

Do you think this is a good exercise ? I am afraid it can get confusing when it comes to playing the "normal" scales but it might be worth it in the goal of letting the RH teach the LH...

Any thought is welcome !

Cheers.
Drooxy

[will]

Do you think this is a good exercise ? I am afraid it can get confusing when it comes to playing the "normal" scales but it might be worth it in the goal of letting the RH teach the LH...

Perhaps. Why exactly do you want to play D C Bb A G F Eb D in the LH?
I find the mirrored approach good for making both sides feel equally adept however I would apply this to actual music.

[rimv2]

Hi everyone,

While working on centering myself on middle D at the keyboard (S. Flink) and aiming to improve my left hand, I imagined an exercise based on scales and I would like to have your opinions:

Play RH the major scale in the key of D:
D E F# G A B C# D                 

Play LH a scale that follows exactly the same keys pattern:
D C Bb A G F Eb D

Same reversing the hands, changing the key and the type of scale...

Do you think this is a good exercise ? I am afraid it can get confusing when it comes to playing the "normal" scales but it might be worth it in the goal of letting the RH teach the LH...

Any thought is welcome !

Cheers.
Drooxy

Actually, when you play the normal scales you play them a bit easier after practice the symmetric inversion of the key with each hand.

What ah mean is

Left Hand inverted d right hand regular d

then

left hand regular d right hand inverted d

Ah tried an inverted chopin 10-1 for the left hand. It was awesome.