I'm looking for recommendations for books, videos, etc. for advanced students to further technique. Are there things like master classes on video or in-depth discussions by piano masters discussing technique and/or specific technical approaches and problem solving when working on specific pieces. I began lessons at 5 and have played all my life - music major and graduated BA but went into a non-musical career field although I continued to accompany and stay active in the musical community. Now that I'm retired, I'm spending up to 4-5 hours a day at the piano and have made incredible strides and am playing pieces I never was able to master earlier in my life (the mental discipline that comes with maturity I guess.) I'd love to find a top-notch teacher/mentor but I doubt if any really good advanced teacher would take on someone my age. I'm concerned that I may still have some bad habits that I'm not aware of, hence my interest in reference materials. I have the Boris Berman "Notes from the Pianist's Bench" which has been really helpful. Have any of the really great teachers from Julliard, Curtis and the like, or any of the great performers written or produced videos?
There are so many books out there, I will just tell you my own modest library; I have the Boris Berman, also the classic "Art of Piano Playing" by Heinrich Neuhaus, which is generally more inspiring than technical; I have "Basic Principles of Piano Technique" by the Lhevinnes, Josef and Rosina; I have "Piano Technique" by Walter Gieseking, one of the great WWII-era pianists, and that is two books in one; and "Playing Piano for Pleasure" by Charles Cooke, an old music critic who wrote a simply fantastic book on practicing and piano technique, intended for amateurs but endorsed by Rubinstein, Arrau, all kinds of great pianists.
I also find inspiring books by pianists where they don't talk about technique, but talk about their approach to the music, which can often give the help of bypassing technical instruction and going straight to the source. For instance, "My Life and Music" by Artur Schnabel; "Me of All People" by Alfred Brendel, who has written numerous other books on music; "Casals and the Art of Interpretation," not a pianist but still some wonderful information; "The Glenn Gould Reader," and so forth.
Often recommended are the enormous tomes of Sandor and Fink, but I don't have those.
Walter Ramsey
Topic: Reference books on technique?