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Topic: pianowell system ? Anybody used?  (Read 4667 times)

Offline akthe47

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pianowell system ? Anybody used?
on: March 20, 2012, 05:49:48 PM
Anybody use this system?  I saw several YouTube videos of the creator of the system, and she does play very well.  And the cost of the system seems quite reasonable, and it includes Skype lessons.

Anyone have experience?

BTW, I have no affiliation with the creator, but I am interested in alternatives to full blown lessons.  I also like when processes are written down on paper, as it seems that there is a certain sense of clarity on topic matters when information must be written down.  There's no going back on words and it should be very clear what priorities there are.

Offline birba

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Re: pianowell system ? Anybody used?
Reply #1 on: March 20, 2012, 07:23:33 PM
I actually googled this pianowell system.  It's a lot of gibberish to me.  She has it in a nutshell, complete with diagrams, and MEM's (whatever they are) all destined to make you a concert pianist in no time at all.  The gal is probably making big bucks.  After all, she's a moscow conservatory graduate, isn't she?

Offline akthe47

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Re: pianowell system ? Anybody used?
Reply #2 on: March 20, 2012, 11:06:09 PM
I actually googled this pianowell system.  It's a lot of gibberish to me.  She has it in a nutshell, complete with diagrams, and MEM's (whatever they are) all destined to make you a concert pianist in no time at all.  The gal is probably making big bucks.  After all, she's a moscow conservatory graduate, isn't she?

I think she is .  She does seem to play very well , though.

I don't know about 'no time at all,' but she does lay out a lot of the work.

Are there any other recommended systems out there that might be better, short of going to a conservatory?

Offline j_menz

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Re: pianowell system ? Anybody used?
Reply #3 on: March 21, 2012, 05:02:21 AM
Part of the first lesson (I couldn't stomach much further) if to press the A key and imaging the sound moving to the left and the right.

Seems like complete crap to me.

Spend the money on lessons instead. Or on an unhappy love affair.  Either will do a better job of improving your playing.
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility. There are so few of us left" -- Oscar Levant

Offline keypeg

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Re: pianowell system ? Anybody used?
Reply #4 on: March 21, 2012, 05:07:38 PM
I spent some time scanning through the site to get the general gist, without reading every detail.  Essentially they are describing things that most good teachers are aware of - at least the ones whom I know. The aspect of the presentation that I did not like, and have seen before, is that of painting all "other teachers" with the same paintbrush, and trashing them collectively.  I.e. all other teachers teach (in a limited / restricted / harmful etc.) manner, and they alone do it differently.  Obviously that is wrong.

The main points that they present are things I've heard from good teachers in general (who all aim toward such things when they can / when students are open to it etc.).  From what I understood, as follows:

- an inner ear that understand the music and so aims toward sounds and quality in playing.  to some degree the body responds naturally in trying to produce that sound.  i.e. not purely mechanical playing comprised of typing out notes one by one.  This needs to be developed somehow at some stage by a teacher.

- That the inner ear is not enough.  There have to be effective physical motions for producing the sounds that the student envisions.

- That fundamental effective posture at the piano affects how you will be able to do the above two things.

- That understanding music via "analysis" should go toward real understanding rather than something much more superficial.

- Maybe unstated: that there is a balance and interplay between taught physical technique, inner musical understanding, taught theory, inner musical understanding of that theory, and probably other elements, and they all have to made to work together.

Since it's not the first time that I have heard of these things, it is not unique to that one school or teacher(s).    These are subtle things, and require the interaction between teacher and student.  The teacher has to be aware of the student's abilities and character in order to know how to balance the teaching, and the student will change as it goes along.  I cannot see this as something happening on the Internet except perhaps on the rare occasion with a rare teacher and rare kind of student.

Offline akthe47

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Re: pianowell system ? Anybody used?
Reply #5 on: March 22, 2012, 10:26:49 PM
Thanks for the feedback , especially your feedback, Keypeg.

Seemed like a relatively inexpensive partial solution ($180 or so is like what... 3 lessons with a good teacher?), but perhaps not worth it -- especially since nobody here has even heard of it before or tried it.

I'd rather go with some more tried and true method than risk money .  Thanks.

Offline pytheamateur

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Re: pianowell system ? Anybody used?
Reply #6 on: March 31, 2012, 10:22:15 PM
There are quite a few of these courses around online.

Anyone tried the Taubman technique
https://www.golandskyinstitute.org/


Or the Bottazzi technique?
https://anamariatrenchibottazzihands.com/technique_dvds.htm

Both program cost substantially more than the Pianowell.
Also the Taubman DVDs seemed quite tempting to me at first, not least because it was endorsed by a past Leeds competition winner, Ilya Itin.

Also one thing I have noticed, there seems to be many names of technique being bandied about.  I wonder how different they are to each other.
Beethoven - Sonata in C sharp minor, Op 27 No 12
Chopin - Fantasie Impromptu, Nocturn in C sharp minor, Op post
Brahms - Op 118, Nos 2 & 3
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