Folks, this is a very nice/informative response I received from Bernhard this morning.
Thanks again Bernhard for taking the time to respond!
Hi, Tonym
I am sending you below some comments on your son’s video. I am sending you through private message rather than the forum because I don;t think it is very nice to offer criticism in public. On the other hand, you may benefit from other’s opinions on my opinions, so feel free to post this message in the thread (or relevant parts of it) if you would like for people to discuss it. In any case I thought it would be better to give you a chance to read it in private before sharing it with others (it you decide to).
First, let me congratulate you on your son’s progress. It is very impressive that he achieved so much at his age (Cool and in so little time (16 months). He clearly has a talent, but mos importantly, he has an interest and you and your wife have done averygood job of fostering it. Well done. Cheesy
I have watched the video a number of times and I would like to point out some concerns – they are not really criticisms, rather pointers to things he is doing at the piano that – if corrected will avoid many problems in the future. Also keep in mind that he may have done some of the things I discuss below during his performance out of nervousness, and normally he would not do them.
1. Posture. He was sitting far too far from the piano. Note how his arms are outstretched to reach the keys. The elbows should be a fist away from the body, no more no less (if they are too close to the body the torso gets in the way of arm movement, if they are too far, the back must support the full weight of the arm, and you get a sharp pain right in the middle of the back. Ask him if he has such a pain).
He is also sitting too far back on the bench. He should be more towards the front, sitting on the sitting bones (he appears to be doing that). I could not see if his feet reached the floor or if they were dangling in the air – they should be firmly in the floor, calves perpendicular to the floor.
His back seemed to have quite a lot of tension on the lower back – perhaps from trying to sit straight – he does look very straight, but this may have been accomplished at the expense of lower back tension.
His neck is very good, though. Cheesy
His elbows were too low. This may just be at the recital. The bench should be adjusted a little higher so that his elbows are at the same level of the keyboard (you do not want elbows too high either). Again, this may have been only at that particular performance.
2. Playing technique. He is using too much finger work. This will generate a lot of fatigue, and the few mistakes he made have been caused almost surely by this fatigue.
More worrying, is his habit of sticking fingers in the air as he press the keys down with the other fingers. If, as you press one finger down the others shoot up, you are working against yourself: the classical case of muscle co-contraction, and the major cause of injuries amongst pianists. Is his teacher an advocate of Hanon and similar exercises that prescribe that one lifts the fingers high? This is a very bad habit, that always produces muscle fatigue and labored playing.
Next, notice his habit of dropping the wrists – again a very bad habit and the most likely cause of carpal tunnel syndrome amongst pianists. As the wrists drop, joint alignment is destroyed, and the fingers go up (rather than down into the keys), and must be “muscled” back down, which again is working against oneself. Does he have fatigue/discomfort/soreness/pain in the forearms after playing/practising? Correct technique never feels uncomfortable and one should be able to go playing for hours without any fatigue whatsoever. The sports mentality of “no pain, no gain” is completely inappropriate in piano playing.
At several instances, however, your son displayed very good body usage, with joints aligned and so on (e.g., at 0:49, 1:46 and 2:20 where he played the chords with arm weight, aligned joints and impeccable technique), so he already can do the right thing, but he must observe that he is constantly and consistently doing it.
In a few instances he twisted his hands to place the thumb or little finger (which are shorter) in the keys. This is also a very bad habit, since there are nerve centres on the outside of the wrist that can be damaged if this becomes a habitual pattern. Instead of twisting his hand, he should bring the arm back and forwards to negotiate the placement of the shorter fingers in the keys.
I feel that right now (due to these inappropriate movements) his playing is laboured and effort laden. At this point one may well say to me: “What do you expect: It is a difficult piece, and he is only eight!” Yet, it is exactly this “expectation” that makes it laboured. If one aims at “ease of playing”, one keeps investigating new movements until one achieves it. If one expects the piece to be difficult to play, one accepts the fatigue/discomfort/pain as necessary evils that must be endured. I doubt he will get injuries at this stage, since he is very young and probably does not practise that much. However as these movements become usual, and he grows up, if he continues on a musical path, he may well be in a few years time practising daily 6- 7 hours a day with these movements, and at that stage he may well face serious, debilitating injuries. In any case, even if he never has any injuries, his playing will be limited by these inappropriate movements.
If you would like to discuss any of these matters in more detail, please feel free to do so.
Also have a look at the threads below, since they discuss some of these issues in greater detail.
Good luck. Smiley
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2916.msg25572.html#msg25572(Bad habits when playing/practising)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/board,4/topic,4880.3.html#msg46319(how to acquire technique and what technique actually is)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2998.msg26268.html#msg26268(Scales HT, why? – Bernhard on top form explaining why and when to practise scales HS and HT – Pragmatical x logical way of teaching – analogy with aikido – list of piano techniques – DVORAK – realistic x sports martial arts – technique and how to acquire it by solving technical problems – Hanon and why it should be avoided - Lemmings)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2079.msg17335.html#msg17335(Hand tension – not using fingers to play)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2502.msg21594.html#msg21594(Independence of the 3rd and 4thfinger – it is impossible: one should work towards the illusion of independence: it is all arm work)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2507.msg21688.html#msg21688(Round fingers – the role of fingers)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4385.msg41226.html#msg41226(Technique – definition of technique – technique is personal and relative to the piece – Fosberry flop – the best books on technique)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4734.msg44770.html#msg44770(how to acquire virtuoso technique – aiming at 100 pieces in five years)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4880.msg46339.html#msg46339(definition of technique: quote from Fink, Sandor and Pires – Example of the A-E-A arpeggio)
https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7887.msg79326.html#msg79326(why the lifting of the 4th finger is a non-problem)
https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,8335.msg84684.html#msg84684(circular movements to avoid co-contraction)
https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,8322.msg84686.html#msg84686(speed and muscle tension – 3 important components of speed playing)
(just the tip of the iceberg) Tongue
Topic: Critique this performance