What do you guys do to strengthen (I really mean relax) your fingers?

[keyboardclass]

Whereas I was successful in the context of his straw man argument  - that's all.  Also, I don't really think Mother Theresa is an a-hole.

[nyiregyhazi]

Maybe, but playing with feet/hands tied behind was never part of my ethos and it's my ethos you failed at.  Whereas I was successful.

Unbelievable. Does your ego know no bounds? I performed such works as Liszt's sonata in public, during those years. Yet you feel you succeeded where I failed? You just stopped expecting more from yourself- where I discovered how far I had left to go.

[keyboardclass]

Unbelievable. Does your ego know no bounds? I performed such works as Liszt's sonata in public, during those years. Yet you feel you succeeded where I failed? You just stopped expecting more from yourself- where I discovered how far I had left to go.

In the context of your straw man argument dummy!

[nyiregyhazi]

In the context of your straw man argument dummy!

You succeeded at mastering the art of playing with your hands tied behind your back? What you meant was quite clear-given that it directly followed reference to your ethos. If you really believe you are a successful story, I shudder to think of those who were failed.

[keyboardclass]

No, this straw man argument:

I used to have the same ethos as k-hence the alternation between dysfunctional levels of tension and dysfunctional levels of release- as opposed to simple balance.

The straw man is that we shared the same ethos - Mother Theresa shows how that fallacy works - I had a Catholic ethos just like Mother Teresa but I kept committing sin!  What a rubbish religion!  She must be one hell of an a-hole!  

The other fallacy is causal - Matthay ethos hence dysfunction -  You cannot say "I tried Matthay's method and it didn't work for me therefore it doesn't work" - the one may be the cause of the other but on the other hand there are a million other possible causes.

Your original statement is bogus!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

How about we all settle this over a piano-off?!

[keyboardkat]

For the Dohnanyi exercises, can't I just do a Bach prelude and fugue?

The problem with that is that here we're talking about strengthening fingers.   I don't think you want to use a piece of music just for that, because you will ruin that piece for yourself.  You will never be able to think of that piece ever again disassociated from the technical struggle.

Dohnanyi analyzed each technical problem in isolation from any musical problem.  The Dohnanyi studies are concentrated, focused studies on each particular technical problem.   You don't have to do them forever.  Once you've gotten the benefit of them, you don't have to keep practicing them, except perhaps once in a while as warmups.

[j_menz]

How about we all settle this over a piano-off?!

Steinways at twenty paces?

[ajspiano]

how do we decide who wins? - I don't even have a steinway.. 

(I have 0 interest in making piano a competition)

[nyiregyhazi]

No, this straw man argument:
The straw man is that we shared the same ethos - Mother Theresa shows how that fallacy works - I had a Catholic ethos just like Mother Teresa but I kept committing sin!  What a rubbish religion!  She must be one hell of an a-hole!  

The other fallacy is causal - Matthay ethos hence dysfunction -  You cannot say "I tried Matthay's method and it didn't work for me therefore it doesn't work" - the one may be the cause of the other but on the other hand there are a million other possible causes.

When specifically altering an attitude and seeing a correlation in results, it goes way beyond that. While practising the fugue from op110 I almost without fail discover lazy knuckle drooping in any spot where I should feel slight forearm stiffness. When the fingers act to sustain a greater length AFTER each depression, it vanishes. To this day, the less I think about "relaxing" after each depression (instead striving for comfortable balance that is never departed from during or after depression) the more relaxed I become overall and the more easy it is to play. Hence the failure of the "relax as much as possible after sounding the key ethos"-which in itself is as logical as assuming that if everyone in the world stole as much as they could, everyone would own more stuff. In a balance its a matter of distribution. Relaxing the wrong muscles places a bigger role on others. The whole premise just serves to throw the results outside of your control.

[keyboardclass]

...and Mother Theresa?