French pianist and teacher Elie Drai

[maxim3]

If you understand spoken French, you may wish to glance at a few videos of performer and teacher Elie Drai. Many of his over 500 videos are pedagogical, and although he appears to earn his daily bread by teaching, he has still posted an impressive amount of free lesson-oriented material.

I am not qualified to evaluate him, but he seems like the real deal. He is a devoted follower of Cortot's book (Rational Principles of Piano Technique) and his Youtube catalogue includes a series of 12 videos explaining and demonstrating the exercises; he also uses Czerny, Hanon, extracts from repertoire, etc.

Series 'Tout le piano' - 12 videos

(or just search for 'Elie Drai' on Youtube and check his playlists)

Here is my translation of how he introduces the series in the first video of the 12:

*******

We are going to study all the aspects of piano technique. By that I mean the technical aspects that one finds [first] in classical music, and [second] in songs. I exclude certain aspects of technique which are completely specific to what is called 'modern' music.

We have many subjects to deal with.

For this, we are going to base ourselves on some works, the principal among them being that of Alfred Cortot, 'Rational Principles of Piano Technique.' I recommend of course that you purchase it. And this work has the immense merit of treating everything in detail. It is difficult, but it possesses the immense quality of being the [main] reference work of all the conservatories in France.

We will also make use of some other works -- 'The Virtuoso Pianist' of Hanon, which is also a work often used by students; but also certain works of Czerny -- Czerny wrote many works, and this is but a selection of his writings, with for example, this work, '160 Eight-Measure Exercises', 'The School of Velocity', et cetera.

This is what awaits us. this is our program. And we are going to try to be precise, very detailed, in order to explain well both the concepts and [how to put them into operation.]

Off we go then!

********

[brogers70]

Well, the good thing is that he speaks slowly enough that anyone who passed high school French should be able to understand him. The bad thing is that he speaks slowly enough that anyone who passed high school French should be able to understand him.

The only comment on the first youtube video was "J'ai hate," "I'm in a hurry."

[maxim3]

Drai usually speaks slowly and deliberately, but sometimes speeds up into a more casual-conversational speed. And unfortunately, neither the sound quality nor the microphone technique are more than just adequate in these videos. Sound-enhancing software may help.

As for the general pace: anyone, French-speaking or otherwise, who is "in a hurry" to learn anything about the piano should avoid this teacher. Drai believes in taking as much time as is necessary to explain his material -- and that often means a LOT of time.

To my original post, I should have added that the English translation of Cortot's "Rational Principles of Pianoforte Technique" is available on scribd.com:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/32976785/Rational-Principles-of-Pianoforte-Technique

(It's a free download, but they jerk you around a bit)

[keypeg]

I double-speeded my way through 6 videos and can't say I was impressed.  He spends most of his time with a book open, talking.  That could be done better in text form.  When he does play to illustrate something, it is briefly, and he seems to be showing rather common things.   Since one only ever sees his hands, he's not showing much.  There were a few things I was advised by my teacher not to do.