Thinking outloud about technique and Hanon

[BoliverAllmon]

Ok, so I have this new teacher (thank god the old one is a thing of the past). He is originally from ghana. He studied most of his life in Vienna, London, and hartford connecticut. While in Vienna he was taught under the Russian school of thought. That basically meant he worked on three pieces a year and Hanon for three straight years. He swears by this approach now. As for his playing he plays with more volume, power, and emotion than anyone I have personally seen. THe like of Horowitz and cziffra would like his playing.

Enough background. I really started thinking about what others had said about Hanon and other "technique builders". I also noticed that alot of things in life are misunderstood simply because of different definitions of words. Well, I have swung back and forth on both sides of the issue here, but now I completely understand.

Dr. Boamah (my teacher) started me off playing the white key scales, arps, chromatic scales, Bach's invention 14, octaves, and a couple of other little exercises as loudly as possible. He told me that if my thumb could play 80 decibels (just pulling out numbers) max, then my pinky had better be able to do the same thing. I understand that you want all fingers to be able to sound the same. You don't want some notes to stand out because of being too strong. I didn't understand exactly how playing super loud was going to help this out. He also told me to play these things with high fingers. Again, I was confused, but willing to try this out. Afterall, he blew me away with his power at the piano and wanted to play the same way.

Well, after a couple of weeks of working like this, I have now realized why this approach worked. In an effort to play louder and louder, naturally I began to use more and more arm weight. I videotaped myself and noticed that my wrist and arms were moving up and down and the fingers weren't moving that high at all. Though I was attempting to play high finger and loud, I was subconsciously showing myself how to play with the maximum amount of arm weight I could. Now, last week. He talked to me about the invention. we don't play it loud and and bangy, but focus on keeping that same arm weight feel and the rocking of the wrist. When I play it it really sings and is very nice tone. Everything is even and clear.  I wonder if Hanon also saw this happening (or maybe this happened without him knowing and that is where the results were produced) and we have simply defined his instructions in a manner that is contrary to what he originally intended.

what do you think?

boliver

[mikeyg]

I like Hanon. 

[Kassaa]

Very interesting, I think you're right. I will ask my teacher what she thinks about this

[BoliverAllmon]

yeah, i would be curious to what she says.

[xvimbi]

If it works for you, it works. One should be pragmatic about it. After all, Hanon is just a bunch of notes, which can be played with correct motions or incorrect motions. If your teacher guides you well in this respect, there is no harm. Ask your teacher what he knows about pianistic injuries, how to prevent them and how to recover from them. Ask him what kinds of problems (injuries) he has had in the past, minor and major ones, and what injuries he has seen in pianists around him.

[BoliverAllmon]

I can do that.