Techniques

[ana]

hullo.  i just came back from my new teacher.  he keeps talking about these techniques i have never heard of.  i basically have no technique since i've been teaching my self for the past year.  he kept mentioning "hand waving, and crescent mooning"  has anybody else heard of this?

does anybody know of any exercises to help strengthen my technique?  he says i am too stiff and as a result do not play "musically"

he also said something about shaping my phrases better.

any advice would be greatly appreciated

thank you!
 

[pianoguy]

Try playing some scales and arpeggios as fast as you can play them CORRECTLY. First one hand, then the other, then both hands together. I play them all the time to loosen up when I sit down to play.
 
    As for the weird techniques, I've never heard of them either... 

[nomis]

Ask your teacher to clarify his terms. It is likely that  he named these techniques as such, but have a more scientific equivalent in Fink or Sandor.

In regard to your arm being stiff, get a large piece of paper and write:

RELAX NECK
RELAX SHOULDERS
STRAIGHTEN BACK
BREATHE

Do as the paper says. Relaxing the shoulders is particularly important as I find that when my shoulders are tense, my whole arm becomes tense too.

By the way, there is no need to strengthen your technique. Make it better by all means. The best technique is one that is economical enough to allow the performer to interpret the music that is being played convincingly, and of course without excess tension. The great pedagogue Leschetizky has been said to devitalise his students body of all tension. Only then would he proceed to teach.

[Glyptodont]

Don't mean to be too hasty, based on thin information . . . . but maybe you didn't choose an appropriate teacher.

Shouldn't you just play the piece, and the teacher critiques you, shows you your flaws and shows you how to overcome them?

My teacher will stop me if I play wrong notes, or mess up the rhythm.  She will occasionally write in my music with a pencil. 

I can't imagine her giving me mini-speeches about "technique" in the abstract.

Give this one a few more lessons.  If you just feel more and more frustrated, then "hasta la vista, baby!"

[xvimbi]

To chime in with Glyptodont: your teacher should SHOW you how to attempt to overcome your problems. Only with very advanced students (those who already have full command over all technical aspects) is it sufficient to say things like "work a bit more on that passage", "bring out the second voice a bit better", "lean on that C# a bit more", etc.

So, by all means, ask your teacher to demonstrate to you exactly what he means. He should not simply talk about it. Now, to yell a bit at you , you should immediately ask when something is not absolutely clear. There is nothing worse than going home to practice something diligently for a week, only to find out that there was a huge misunderstanding.

[dorfmouse]

Try playing some scales and arpeggios as fast as you can play them CORRECTLY. First one hand, then the other, then both hands together. I play them all the time to loosen up when I sit down to play.
 

This is surely bad advice for a relative beginnner who's been told they're stiff ... if they're using wrong technique then playing fast will only make it worse!

As the other posters said, you need to be shown how to move in a relaxed, efficient way. Make the teacher demonstrate and let you copy,  again and again ... be very childlike! Get the teacher to demonstrate to you the difference in sound between a phrase played stiffly and then with good technique, it's important that you can imagine the sound you want to produce.  I had this problem to a certain extent even after years of playng and my present teacher picked up on it straight away. A basic movement we worked on was, as your finger, or fingers in a chord push down into the keybed your elbows kind of float away and up to the side, making a nice circular movement and feel (much easier to see than describe). This results in a deep round sound. Practice this movement on separate notes or nice sequences of chords slowly and in an exaggerated way at first and then apply to phrases as a whole,when you 'll feel a relaxed wavelike motion. Once you experience the difference in sound quality you can't believe what a beautiful sound you can produce!
I think it would be a good idea to work on some really simple pieces for a bit so you can concentrate on developing good movements without having to worry too much about playing difficult notes, but choose musically satisfying pieces not just exercise type pieces. There are lots of lists of beautiful but easy music on the forum.