Bernhard--what can I say? You're on fire, man. You wield a great deal of influence by how thorough you are! You're like a burning bush that speaks. And I bet you massage your scalp every day.
Actually I have a team of geishas to massage my scalp. I don’t do it myself.
Ok, I read the thread that you gave a link to. It's good to know that I am not the first one to ask this question since the question is enough to drive me nuts if I think about it too much. Is it possible that you could elaborate even further onto that list? The list you gave, though very very informative, focused mainly on practice. Could you list some of the more physical bad habits that you have had to correct in your students? It can be a list of painfully obvious things hardly worth typing such as not pressing simultaneously the keys of a chord or practicing with sore fingers, etc. However, any thing of this sort would be very helpful to have in writing.
The problem with such lists is that there are infinite ways to do it wrong, and just a few ways (sometimes just one way) to do it right. So a list of every possible bad habit would be far too large. Moreover people have different physicalities, so what would be a bad physical habit in one person may be a good one in a different person.
For instance, the other day I watched a video of pianist Daniel Abraham. I noticed straightaway that he was pressing the pedals with his left foot. Although not exactly a terrible bad habit, it is certainly not the most efficient way to use the pedal. I was puzzled until (at the end of the tape) he explained that he had an artificial right leg. So for him, pressing the pedals with the left foot was not only a good habit, as the only way he could negotiate it. Also the question is too general. Therefore almost anything can be said. Remember: The more specific your question, the more useful and pertinent the answer will be.
An example of what I am trying to ask could be unnecessary motions. I would say that they can be considered bad habits. But could you describe some unnecessary motions that your students have made that needed to be corrected. Or an example of bad motions a student thought enhanced the sound of his/her playing. If it helps, every time I think of this bad habit question, I think of the movie Shine where the teacher marked that a few bad habits can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing.
Again this will depend very much on the physicality of the student and on the piece/passage one is playing – and also on the specific sound one is trying to achieve.
For instance, passing the 3rd finger over the 4th (a very common habit in beginners, specially children) is considered a bad habit. Yet there are many passages that can only be negotiated through such an awkward fingering. Historically passing the 3rd over the 4th was quite an accepted fingering in the baroque (keyboardists then did not use the thumb – which was considered a bad habit!).
So I would say that the most pernicious bad habit is to use always the same technique irrespective of its appropriateness. If all you use is the passing of the 3rd over the 4th finger irrespective of its usefulness you have a problem. If all you do is pass the thumb under, you also have a problem. This problem has a name: limited technique. So one should master a wide range of possible movements and one should be able to match the movement to the passage/piece/ aimed sound. This is of course the greatest difficulty in learning the piano, and one of the main reasons teachers are such a valuable asset (if they know their stuff): They can save you years of misguided effort.
So to sum it all up. Strictly speaking there is no list of “bad” movements, since there will always be circumstances where that “bad” movement will be the most appropriate one. However it will be a “bad movement” if you use it in the wrong place. And any movement will turn up to be bad if you only use that movement no matter what the circumstances.
Also Bernhard, there are two other off topic questions that I want to ask you. Your retired student that learned what she did in 6 months--at any point did you ever attempt to persuade her to play a different easier piece only to have her stump her foot and say "No, this is the piece I want to learn"? Do you think that, if you started playing the piano at her age, you would have progressed as quick as she has?
The piano repertory is huge. Life is short. When you reach 60 it is even shorter. We do not have time to mock about playing things we don’t like. I could have suggested easier pieces, and I am sure she would have meekly complied. But what would be the point? She is much happier this way.
But there is something much deeper going on here. Consider that the human body/mind has these three functions (there are more, but these three are the ones that interest us for the moment being): emotional, intellectual and motional.
The emotional function works on the basis of: I like it I hate it. There is no argument or explanation, just a feeling of attraction or of repulsion. It is very quick to react to various stimuli. Emotional responses (like/dislike) are almost immediate.
The intellectual function works on the basis of comparisons. It takes a long time for all that comparing to take place. It also has nothing to do with likes or dislikes. If you are in intellectual mode you may do something you dislike deeply (e.g. washing the dishes) because you have reasoned yourself into it. But you will be resentful and unhappy about it. And eventually you will stop doing it.
The motional function has to do with your movements and with the five (+) senses: your sensual perception. The motional function is amazingly fast: much faster than the emotional, which is itself much faster than the intellectual. Piano playing at the physical level is done purely with the motional function. If – as you play – you start “thinking” – that is using your intellectual function – about what you are doing it will all fall apart. Also, the only way to learn motional tasks is by imitation. You cannot use an intellectual approach (making comparisons and analysis). Try to learn how to dance by telling yourself to step this way, turn to the left, turn to the right and so on and so forth. It will not work. Instead find the best dancer in the hall and
imitate what s/he is doing. You have to be in a certain state of mindlessness to do that: all your attention must be directed outwards. If you are not used to it, you will find it really hard to concentrate on pure imitation. Chances are you will slip into intellectual mode and flop it.
The emotional function does not learn. It just likes or dislikes. It is pretty much useless in general and is always causing trouble. However it does have a very important function to fulfil: It is the emotional that will make you do anything. You can sit down and reason to yourself all night why you should practise everyday (intellectual function). You can even sit down at the piano and go through the movements of practice (motional function). But unless you come to
like practice , that is unless you succeed in engaging your emotional function in a positive way, you will not practice. It is as simple as that.
So all this long preamble to explain this obvious fact: quick progress is a result of deeply enjoying what you are doing. In other words, if you succeed in engaging the emotional function, the student will go through heel and fire to follow your instructions. And all the pedagogy in the whole world will not change this simple, but mostly ignored fact. Your teaching system can be very logical (intellectually well reasoned), it can be incredibly efficient and correct technically (motionally appropriate), but if the student dislike it intensely that is it.
Therefore by assuring that the student loves the piece s/he is learning the problem is dealt with at the root.
And yes, if I had me as my teacher, I would have progressed just as quickly (perhaps even more quickly because I tend to obey myself and not spend time arguing with me – obedience is a much underrated virtue).
And finally, does reading your posts count as practice or music study? Am I allowed to add the hours spent reading your posts to my practice diary? : )
I am afraid not. Unless you want to make a (substantial)donation to the BCF (Bernhard’s Charity Fund) in which case you can add one hour to your practice for every minute you spend reading my posts. (I got the idea from the Catholic Church who used to sell “indulgences” – a place in heaven for the right amount of money – maybe they still do it) .
Best wishes,
Bernhard.