Seymour Fink

[berrt]

Hello... yesterday I received the Fink-book "Mastering piano technique". I am a real late beginner being 45 and playing 8 months now (reaching the "für elise"-level...).
The book seems to be complete humbug - did anyone work successful with it?
Is it useful only for (much?) more advanced students?

Berrt

[redhead]

I got much more out of freeing the caged bird (https://www.freeingthecagedbird.com) and sandor's "On piano playing".   The Fink book is ok.   Check out the his video, too.

[Maui]

I think u should look at the Chuang Chang review of this and others piano books, and you may find Changs book is great too.

:]

[Daniel_piano]

I got much more out of freeing the caged bird (https://www.freeingthecagedbird.com)

Is there any transcript or book to follow while looking at the video for someone from foreign, non anglophone, country ?

Daniel

[namui]

I got both the book and the video. I think the video is essential to understand the book, or at least it helps a lot in understanding how to do many things described in the book.

If you get the video, you probably feel that the topics are not too difficult to consume.

namui

[berrt]

Thank you, I'll try to get it. The Fink book seems not too complicated to me, but too trivial - any teacher could tell you these things in a few minutes. But then, i may be TOTALLY wrong with that impression.

Berrt

[redhead]

To DanielPiano:

I don't believe there is any accompanying book.  A transcript of the video itself wouldn't be very useful (in this case) since it would frequently run:

Do it like this.
<pause while demonstrated on screen>

Don't do it like this.
<similar demonstration>.

The demonstrations would be universal, and there are periodic bullet points listed in text on the screen during the video.  I think it'd be pretty easy to follow for non-native english speakers.

But I have no idea if the tape would play.  I don't know much about region VHS tape encodings.

You could try emailing her.  Her email is on the website.

Good luck.

[xvimbi]

Thank you, I'll try to get it. The Fink book seems not too complicated to me, but too trivial - any teacher could tell you these things in a few minutes. But then, i may be TOTALLY wrong with that impression.

Berrt

I would indeed say that you are TOTALLY wrong with that impression. 

In fact, the material Fink presents in his book is very complex and very useful. Unfortunately, he does go over certain things in a rather cursory fashion. For example, he points out that the exercises should be mastered in series, but it will not be clear to most readers that mastering the first exercise alone will take months. Yes, I am talking about just simply standing correctly. There is so much hidden in this one "exercise". In this respect, you may want to check out the book "What every pianist needs to know about the body" from Thomas Mark. There is an accompanying video that is very helpful. This will prime you for Fink. Working through Fink with a knowledgeable teacher will take a couple of years. Finally, you can get the videos from the Taubman institute. They are expensive but very good, and they cover pretty much anything you'd ever wanted to know about good technique.

If you are an adult beginner, I would strongly recommend making proper technique one of the major aspects of your lessons. You will find that Fuer Elise is all of a sudden so much more difficult, because you will have to learn technique, not just pounding keys. It will also be a lot more rewarding and productive in the long run. Also, at this age, we all have acquired a lot of bad habits and even injuries. Believe me, the piano will bring out every one of them. Start working on them now. Keep in mind that you will need a very, very good teacher to guide you through this. Books and videos are good, but they can only be start.

[berrt]

You will find that Fuer Elise is all of a sudden so much more difficult

........even MORE difficult? I just reached my limits!
I shouldn't do that........ 

Berrt