The craft of piano playing

[joca_hdj]

Dear Fellow Pianist,
 
In 2003 Scarecrow Press published The Craft of Piano Playing, by Canadian pianist Alan Fraser. His new approach to piano technique links the structure and function of the hand to the qualities of phrase and sonority the piano can produce, in a totally new way. The book proved popular, but many readers expressed the desire for a video that would better communicate these potent, original and effective ideas about piano technique.
 
This dream has now been realized. The video version of The Craft of Piano Playing is due for release October 1, 2006, in DVD format. The film is in English, and the chapters and sub-chapters of its menus in four languages (English, French, German and Serbian) allow exceptionally easy navigation to any point in the film, making it a highly effective pedagogical tool.
 
This video is a "must have" for any music library and in fact, for any pianist. Its insights into the hand's innate capacities of movement and organization offer a breakthrough to pianists at all levels from beginning to professional. Teachers can use these ideas to empower their own students, developing a new dimension in their whole relationship to the piano and piano teaching.
 
If you would like to be notified of The Craft of Piano Playing's release, please reply to this email. Your name and address will be put on our advance order list, and the moment the DVD is available, you will be able to complete your purchase.
 
 
Pianistically yours,
 
Jovan Hadji-Djurich,
Marketing Director,
Maple Grove Music Productions

[ramseytheii]

Dear Fellow Pianist,
 
In 2003 Scarecrow Press published The Craft of Piano Playing, by Canadian pianist Alan Fraser. His new approach to piano technique links the structure and function of the hand to the qualities of phrase and sonority the piano can produce, in a totally new way.

 

Walter Ramsey

[joca_hdj]

i study with Alan Fraser,and i can tell you,he is amasing.
if you have any questions ,just mail me at
jocahdj@gmail.com

[thalbergmad]

I don't know why, but it always disturbs me when someones first post is an advert.

It also disturbs me to read the words "piano" and "totally new way" in the same sentence.

Might just give this one a miss.

Thal

[alessandro]

I don't know why, but it always disturbs me when someones first post is an advert.

Thal

Fantastic, Thalbergmad.  I'm having a great time, big fun, standing beside you looking over your shoulder to that "first post".  You're doing a great job standing at the gates of this paradisiacal pianogarden.  Maybe I'm just trying to make friends with you before you kick me out or start a revolution against my superficial and irrelevant presence in this forum.  Very well said, Thalbergmad.  One has to stay vigilant.

Kindly

[joca_hdj]

you can call this advert,but how else would you find out something about the craft of piano playing?
i mean i would be happy to be informed at least,don`t you?
coomon,you are musicians,
why do you talk about advert insted of the content of the post?
did you go to website?
"no ,thats advert,we don`t wanna take a look at it"
i don`t understand
thak y`all!!!
jhdj

[alwaystheangel]

I see tim hoffman in your future....

[thalbergmad]

Dear Suckers.

In October 2006 Thalbergmad Music Productions will proudly issue it's first DVD entitled "Pratt at the Piano".

For the first time you can learn how to scratch your ass with one hand and play Godowsky with the other. Also, we will show you a great new method of adjusting your piano stool after 15 pints of lager.

The film is in Japanese with Coptic 3 subtitles, but we hope to get a Flemish version out by the end of the year.

You can order this great DVD via Amazon for $50, but as a special offer to members of pianostreets, you can get it direct from me for $90.

Please give me your name, address and e mail, and i will pass your details onto a group of Columbian drug smugglers who will send you 10,000 e mails a day about cheap viagra.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thal

[pianistimo]

oh yes...you'll be hearing from so many people.  this is amazing.  truly much more amazing than your last video of 'how to slap a woman.'  not sure what's going to be left on this forum (since God left yesterday).  thalbergmad - you can be as cynical as me.  the thing is - we can't take back what we say - so if it offends someone - they'll be like 'why me God?' and God won't be there. 

[ahinton]

not sure what's going to be left on this forum (since God left yesterday).

I was unaware that He had left; what proof do you have of this? Do you suppose that Nils realises this? Mind you, quite a few others have joined this forum and then resigned from membership, so...

Best,

Alistair

[joca_hdj]

OK guys, i have read your coments on my post and i agree totally, what a dumb move to post a sales letter as my first post.
 it was an honest mistake, so let me apologize.
but i must say i had the best  intentions.
 i have studied with Alan Fraser for 3 years and it has been really transformatonal. it is a very interesting question, what makes his teaching so diferent, and not an easy question to answer, especialy in few words. i guess it is mostly his understanding of the physical proces. many pianists avoid the physical, and just let their hands express their musical ideas.
they fear a focus on the physical will make their playing mechanical and lacking in personality. but with prof. Fraser it's the opposite. he guides the hand and shows you how to use its structure in a way that gives me more power and a real sense of control, a tone that is richer and a facility that is simply more capable.so i can play with more expression. and in the book and film he has managed to transfer at least some of this into the page or the video screen. so i think it is worth a little investigation.
i did sign my first post "Marketing Director," and we are trying to sell the DVD, but for me personally it is not only about earning money, it is about shareing something that is really exciting and really valuable. i wouldn't be doing this kind of marketing for any other product,
 I'm a pianist for god's sake, but we need to spread the word on this one. we were actually going to make maple grove a non-profit organization dedicated to making these materials available to more pianists, but here in serbia it is just to complicated to set it up.

[contrapunctus]

Is it me, or did your English get a hell of a lot better in only two posts, joca_hdj?

[nyquist]

Dear Fellow Pianist,
 
In 2003 Scarecrow Press published The Craft of Piano Playing, by Canadian pianist Alan Fraser. His new approach to piano technique links the structure and function of the hand to the qualities of phrase and sonority the piano can produce, in a totally new way. The book proved popular, but many readers expressed the desire for a video that would better communicate these potent, original and effective ideas about piano technique.
 

I own and have read the book.  I could not find a coherent system in it.  Instead, I found a collection of stream of consciousness musings with asides on Tai-Chi and Feldenkreis technique sprinkled throughout.   Admittedly,  I have not yet found a truly useful book on piano technique, and I own a bookshelf of them.  IMHO, video is a much better medium: vide the "Taubman Techniques", professor Fink's, and "Freeing the caged bird" tapes.

Being a junkie, I will most likely get a copy of the dvd.  Hope is eternal.  There might be gold in them hills.

nyquist

[pianistimo]

what caught my eye is 'structure and function of the hand...'  i think there is something to that!  i would probably get the book/video, too, as a combination of information is useful to glean ideas.  even if you don't subscribe fully to an idea.  but, taubman and these ideas may actually dovetail together quite nicely.  i've always been amazed at little tricks my piano teacher showed me about how to 'balance' the hands over phrases.  i never really thought of the hand as a sort of equalizer - and focused too MUCH on fingers.  the hand can really help the fingers.  for instance, if you move inward and outward in certain places - it really helps to have a solid feel.  of course, key pressure changes when the fingers touch the keys farther in - but you adjust.  also, horizontal lines - you get a sort of gliding thing with the hand that becomes more and more controllable when you are thinking of it.  it's like being a ghost on top of the keyboard if you mimic only the hand position that you are using for your chopin or liszt (or whatever).  some things - as a slight angle toward the top note (15 degrees) ensures that black note will be solid instead of 'oops - i did it again - i missed that top note.'

[berrt]

i will pass your details onto a group of Columbian drug smugglers who will send you 10,000 e mails a day about cheap viagra.

Just pass my adress directly. With tons of cheap viagra, ill have no time left for the piano

B.

[joca_hdj]

yes, my english DID get better, how perceptive of you to notice! It improved because I actually got help from Mr Fraser himself in writing that reply! SO like I (we) said, just trying to keep the dialogue open and coherent....

[joca_hdj]

reply to #12: no coherent system? Prof Fraser builds up the use of the hand starting from legato, a foundation point, then branching out to more varied functions. Perhaps you don't see the system because you aren't looking at it from the point of view of sturctural function? In any case, why don't you write professor Fraser himself and ask him about the systematic nature of his approach?

[joca_hdj]

reply to #13: what you describe is very interesting, I like it a lot. It relates very much to the use of the hand my teacher shows me, he just uses slightly different language to descrtibe it - language that refers more to the underlying function...

[joca_hdj]

reply to #14: I could get into the whole idea of how a functional hand structure reduces the need for pianistic viagra, but maybe we'll just pass on that one, right???

[darla]

I have read the book and I think it is excellent (and no, I don't have any connections to anybody associated with the book).   Great discussions of Legato, arm/body weight vs. finger/hand strength, arm rotation and many, many other topics. Definately a one-of-a- kind book. <I've read Bernstein (simplistic), Fink (boring and mechanical), and Sandor (good)>


In my opinion, the book could be improved by incorporating:

A heirarchal presentation of the exercises.  There are many, many exercises and it is sometimes difficult to tell which ones are the most important (and how long each should be practiced).

Anyway, I would like to purchase the video when it comes out.

[nyquist]

reply to #12: no coherent system? Prof Fraser builds up the use of the hand starting from legato, a foundation point, then branching out to more varied functions. Perhaps you don't see the system because you aren't looking at it from the point of view of sturctural function? In any case, why don't you write professor Fraser himself and ask him about the systematic nature of his approach?

If I have to be able to look at it from the point of view of structural function *before* I read the book, there is a problem.  The book should show me how to adopt that viewpoint.

nyquist

[joca_hdj]

reply to Darla:
thank you for an excellent evaluation and criticism of the book. I will pass this on to the author, and i trust that he will in time post a hierarchical list of the exercises on his website. thanks again

[alwaystheangel]

Joca, what is your first language and what region does this Alan Fraser reside?  Is he still in Canada?

[joca_hdj]

reply to nyquist:
point well taken. I will pass this on to the author and perhaps eventually a clarifying explanation will be posted on his website.

[joca_hdj]

He is in Canada right now and i am from Serbia

[alwaystheangel]

He is in Canada right now and i am from Serbia

cool, thanks

[joca_hdj]

Somebody wrote that they hated THE CRAFT OF PIANO PLAYING because it was so physical it made them feel queasy!too much talk about muscles, ligamnents and god knows what. But in my experience, becoming more aware of what I am doing physically helps me better control the keyboard and thus to better express my musical ideas.

any commments?

[iumonito]

Dear Suckers.

In October 2006 Thalbergmad Music Productions will proudly issue it's first DVD entitled "Pratt at the Piano".

For the first time you can learn how to scratch your ass with one hand and play Godowsky with the other. Also, we will show you a great new method of adjusting your piano stool after 15 pints of lager.

The film is in Japanese with Coptic 3 subtitles, but we hope to get a Flemish version out by the end of the year.

You can order this great DVD via Amazon for $50, but as a special offer to members of pianostreets, you can get it direct from me for $90.

Please give me your name, address and e mail, and i will pass your details onto a group of Columbian drug smugglers who will send you 10,000 e mails a day about cheap viagra.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thal

 

Although, if the scratching is to be done with the left hand, some adjusting in fingering may be necessary.

[joca_hdj]

Dear Thal Grin,

If you are going to send me that many details about Viagra, why not send me the Viagra itself along with your film. Then when you come for your piano lesson, I will be able to do something to your ass a lot nicer than scratching it.

Yours sincerely,

the good folks at Maple Grove Audio

[thalbergmad]

Dear Thal Grin,

If you are going to send me that many details about Viagra, why not send me the Viagra itself along with your film. Then when you come for your piano lesson, I will be able to do something to your ass a lot nicer than scratching it.

Yours sincerely,

the good folks at Maple Grove Audio

I take it you have not sold enough videos, so your master has asked you to bump the thread.

Regards from Thal

And the folks at Cupid Stunt Productions.

[joca_hdj]

We set up a new forum for all of you who would like to discuss about “The craft of piano method”

https://www.atfreeforum.com/pianoforum/

see you there!!!

[practicingnow]

Why don't you guys cut this guy some slack?
He's promoting his teacher's piano dvd that he is proud of and excited about
What's so wrong with that?

[alwaystheangel]

nothing is wrong with that at all.

I think people are annoyed by people that only register at this forum to advertise.  If they had been members for a little while and THEN advertised, I think It would be better received.

[thalbergmad]

nothing is wrong with that at all.

I think people are annoyed by people that only register at this forum to advertise.  If they had been members for a little while and THEN advertised, I think It would be better received.

Precisely, this member has had 14 posts so far and all of them have been in here.

I feel it is good etiquette to get to know people a bit before advertising.

Thal

PS, Here is my teachers website

https://www.thepianostudio.co.uk/ps_main.swf   

[joca_hdj]

You are right,i am going to take a part in other discutions,of course.
I am sorry if any of you feel that i am just trying to advertize my teachers work.
Most of all,i would like to talk about that.
If there is anybody who have read his book,i would be glade to share my experiences.
that's why i built  a new forum,so i don`t bother people who don`t wanna talk about "the craft of piano playing" method.

Thanks
Jovan