the bottom line

[jeff]

when it comes to technique, i'm sure we're all familiar with the various rules and guidelines that teachers instruct students to follow (correct hand/wrist position, how to use the fingers/arm/wrist, how high/low to sit etc...), and i think most of us would have noticed famous pianists doing physical things which appear to contradict what teachers have told us, or which vary significantly from one famous pianist to another.

Is there any thing(s) which all those famous pianists do/did physically (or even mentally) which really contributes to a good technique?

[m1469]

They discoverd what to expect from themselves, and then expected what they discovered to work for them.  They practiced what they expected, and they demonstrated what they practiced.

m1469

[JK]

I might be way off the mark here as I'm not a teacher etc. etc. but I think could be because they just didn't worry too much about what their technique was like, as long as they played all the notes as accurately as humanly possible, made a beautiful sound and communicated their thoughts and feelings about the music with the audience they weren't too fussed how they did it, and who would be?!

In my opinion there is not really a right and wrong way to do things, it very much depends on how you develop and hand size etc. etc. Obviously if you are in pain then there must be something to do with technique that needs adjusting and if you want to master a specific aspect of technique such as repeated notes in ravel and are having problems with it then you may want to actually find a certain hand position etc. I personally feel that you mustn't get obsessed with technique after all it is only a very small part of music making and only address it if you need to, in other words if it aint broke don't fix it!!!!!

[steinway88]

Probaly Sviatoslav Richter , and Simon Barere would be  some pianists.