What is the secret about the hands of the pianist Aidan Mikdad?

[majd.bousaad]

Hello everyone!

Nearly 4 years ago, I was playing on the grand piano in the train station of Amsterdam. I hated that piano because it was old, a key wasn't functioning, and it was so hard to play dynamically well on it. Then a pianist called Aidan Mikdad came and asked me if he could play. I said sure. And here my life was rotated by 180 degrees. The piano, that I hated, turned into the best piano I could ever hear. His hands were so relaxed, that I felt the piano was playing itself. His hand's and wrists movements were so accurate, that I felt he used the perfect energy to play the piece. Since then, I have been watching his videos to (barely) learn his technique. He's been the ongoing motivation for me to get better and improve my piano skills. My question is, however, after I think I reached a dead-end:
Is this technique acquirable? Or is it just for big hands like his? Any thought you could share with me is appreciated and is going to help me a lot.

A side-note: I play piano since 2007, and I was playing Chopin étude winter wind in the train station.

A link to a performance of his: Aidan Mikdad: Franz Liszt - Étude d'exécution transcendante No. 5 "Feux follets"
https://youtu.be/IZnHqotSoG8

Thank you so much

[frodo4]

Hello everyone!

Nearly 4 years ago, I was playing on the grand piano in the train station of Amsterdam. I hated that piano because it was old, a key wasn't functioning, and it was so hard to play dynamically well on it. Then a pianist called Aidan Mikdad came and asked me if he could play. I said sure. And here my life was rotated by 180 degrees. The piano, that I hated, turned into the best piano I could ever hear. His hands were so relaxed, that I felt the piano was playing itself. His hand's and wrists movements were so accurate, that I felt he used the perfect energy to play the piece. Since then, I have been watching his videos to (barely) learn his technique. He's been the ongoing motivation for me to get better and improve my piano skills. My question is, however, after I think I reached a dead-end:
Is this technique acquirable? Or is it just for big hands like his? Any thought you could share with me is appreciated and is going to help me a lot.

A side-note: I play piano since 2007, and I was playing Chopin étude winter wind in the train station.

A link to a performance of his: Aidan Mikdad: Franz Liszt - Étude d'exécution transcendante No. 5 "Feux follets"
https://youtu.be/IZnHqotSoG8

Thank you so much

Hello,

You are lucky to have the life changing experience as you describe.  I listened to your link of Aidan Mikdad playing Liszt TE No. 5 – maybe the hardest of the 12 and one of the hardest of all pieces to play.  He certainly is inspirational and does close to a world class level of performance here IMO.  Would you have the opportunity to study with him?  I see that he is from Amsterdam and I assume that you may be also.  Is this technique acquirable?  I would say yes, but only by a very few people.  Or is it just for big hands like his?  I would say no.  Example, Martha Argerich can only span a 9th from what I read and I’m sure there are many examples of smaller handed pianists that reached Mikdad’s level or above. 

Best of luck to you! 

[jamienc]

Not to sound like a broken record here, since I have said the same thing in many posts elsewhere on the forum, but the secret to this technique is all to do with the motionless wrist and palm mechanism that enables the finger to operate from the knuckle downward to the fingertip. He is enabling his physique to use the least amount of energy possible to access the notes by remaining completely supple in the arm and wrist. Argerich plays exactly the same way.

He does collapse his palm support at times, which makes the finger activation a bit more difficult. But with this piece, especially the first 40 bars or so, it is the awkwardness of the key and the double notes that causes this to happen. As you can see, he is able to control his musculature well enough to disallow any tension from creeping in. Once things start to tighten, this piece is nearly impossible to play. Can this technique be acquired? Of course it can. It all depends upon how conscious you are of the independence of movement of the finger separated from the wrist and palm.

Oh, and yes I have played this piece.

[majd.bousaad]

Hello,

You are lucky to have the life changing experience as you describe.  I listened to your link of Aidan Mikdad playing Liszt TE No. 5 – maybe the hardest of the 12 and one of the hardest of all pieces to play.  He certainly is inspirational and does close to a world class level of performance here IMO.  Would you have the opportunity to study with him?  I see that he is from Amsterdam and I assume that you may be also.  Is this technique acquirable?  I would say yes, but only by a very few people.  Or is it just for big hands like his?  I would say no.  Example, Martha Argerich can only span a 9th from what I read and I’m sure there are many examples of smaller handed pianists that reached Mikdad’s level or above. 

Best of luck to you! 

Thank you for your supportive answer. I'm not from Amsterdam but from Germany, and I'm not able to reach him currently. I know for a fact that big hands are not required to master the piano, and there are loads of examples. However, I wanted to know about his technique specifically. I can see that Martha Argerich uses a different one (she uses wrist movements to balance)
I wish you also the best luck!

[majd.bousaad]

Not to sound like a broken record here, since I have said the same thing in many posts elsewhere on the forum, but the secret to this technique is all to do with the motionless wrist and palm mechanism that enables the finger to operate from the knuckle downward to the fingertip. He is enabling his physique to use the least amount of energy possible to access the notes by remaining completely supple in the arm and wrist. Argerich plays exactly the same way.

He does collapse his palm support at times, which makes the finger activation a bit more difficult. But with this piece, especially the first 40 bars or so, it is the awkwardness of the key and the double notes that causes this to happen. As you can see, he is able to control his musculature well enough to disallow any tension from creeping in. Once things start to tighten, this piece is nearly impossible to play. Can this technique be acquired? Of course it can. It all depends upon how conscious you are of the independence of movement of the finger separated from the wrist and palm.

Oh, and yes I have played this piece.

Thanks for your answer. I knew this theory about the motionless wrist and palm mechanism, However I'm still trying to acquire it. I did well the past 3 years. Likewise, I also played étude de schlözer no.2 specifically to learn to play fast notes with relaxed wrist and palm, but as I said, I may have reached a dead-end. I would be glad if you can provide me with tips or exercises to practise, which would let me learn this technique. This now might be subjective, but Martha Argerich doesn't play the same way as Aidan Mikdad. I can see she uses her wrist to balance the hand size.
Although my goal now is not to play "Feux follets", but if you can share your performance with me, it would help me a lot.