piano fingering

Mel02 wrote: Hi Helene, I keep checking the posts to see if your sheet music posts -- as mentioned in the your post -- come out.

Also, I am reading the stages again and again, it is very insightful.

Mel02, for days I am looking forward to writing the answers to your last post. You just touched the most sore spot in teaching how to play piano (and other instruments!)

Finally, today I got some time to answer you!

I would appreciate any help with editing/proofreading this and previous posts for adding them to 'WRIITING A NEW BOOK' section

Some of these ideas came from using Soft Mozart's data. Since the program lets us see accurate figures on the notes pressed and time spent, "assumption" or "philosophy" is not the right word for some of the discoveries that have been made while using the program for more than 10 years.

Mel02 wrote: Thank you so much, Helene, for answering the question with so much detail and attention. Really appreciate your time and your in-depth.

Some trivial comments: Should all what you write be input in a book or some documents, so we would all know what to be expected to see when using the software? ( I will collect all these guides if they are not documented anywhere.)

Yes< I am trying to add everything that I write for this section in our forum hoping to publish on line another book: softmozart.com/forum/20-hellene-hiners-b...rite-a-new-book.html

I hope to find a bilingual secretary here in Houston to make things happen faster--you are witnessing great things in the making.

Would it be nice if the teaching video would be also in software package, since sometime the internet for playing video is quite slow.

I absolutely agree with you! We are making videos available right now, and you will see the announcement about them very soon. Another way to download the videos immediately onto your computer is to install a free program called REAL PLAYER. If you use Fire Fox, when playing videos from You Tube, you will see an option to download and save them.

Also, before my asking again, I want to say that I think that Helene's books really pointed out quite somethings I missed and I am thinking the soft mozart would be very helpful of filled these blanks and help to build the basic block/elements solidly so eventually kids can be successful. I would think that I am still very rough on understanding, and believe there is something more there, so I will keep digging and digging.

Please do! I appreciate your help in organizing my thoughts and sorting out my experience.

Back to original topic about finger -- or not just finger, about final artistically play. I found some terms -for example: " Posture, Hand Position (bud, bloom, perch), Firm Nail Joints, Wrist releases, ...

I know the drill... After 7 years of music school, 4 years of music college and 5 years of music university, I had had enough of these words said to my classmates and me. I tried my best to follow the suggestions but developed some "inner stress" that was covered by "Posture, Hand Position (bud, bloom, perch), Firm Nail Joints, Wrist releases." If someone would ask piano teachers to complete an anonymous questionnaire, he would be surprised to learn how many of us are affected by such problem.

Why?

Let's ask ourselves a simple question: where did all these "standards" in learning instruments come from? Who, when and how had the sudden "epiphany" about "hand position"?

The answer is simple: such standards were developed through observations of the best players or prodigies. If most of them play using bud, bloom, perch, Firm Nail Joints, Wrist releases - everybody should.
Therefore, there is no way it could be otherwise.

But prodigies, or "original," have am essential difference from the "copy cats" -- they have an inner perception and understanding of music. They capture sounds instantly through their minds and they grasp piano keys and music notes with "inner vision" without even looking at the keys or notes. They don't have to pretend that they have "wrist releases" -- they genuinely have them, and their mentors have little to do with it. We call it "Gift From God."

An example?

Our programmer, who lives in Ukraine, is named Yuri. He never took piano lessons. As he confessed to me, he didn't like to play outside much and preferred to stay home and learn new things. They had a piano in the apartment (most Russians did!) and after receiving some simple instructions from adults about note placement and after reading some theory books he started teaching himself...

Now it is hard to believe that he is not a professional piano player!



Believe it or not, nobody told him anything about bud, bloom, perch, Firm Nail Joints, or Wrist releases. First he learned how to coordinate his hands and fingers, and after that he started craving the information about demontrating "artistry" and going to concerts, listening to recordings...

Another example: a couple of my very gifted students. As soon as they pass the beginning stage, they beg me to give them polishing secrets and if I am not around, they go to the Internet and watch the greatest pianists so they can surprise me next time with new 'tricks' they have taught themselves.

*Should I tell them upfront to never listen to Glenn Gould because he is not keeping appropriate "posture" at his piano and keeps his wrists high? LOL? *



But instead of giving beginners this "inner vision" that every prodigy has or the simple ability to envision what they play, piano teachers make them copy hand movements and cause them to develop "inner stress" on the top of it.




Without the vision, the "not yet prodigy" students mock the gracefulness while paying the high price of being "jammed" every time they learn a new piece. I have heard hundreds of stories. Even concert pianists tell me about phantom pains in the neck and shoulders during their first rehearsals.

What can I tell you about the millions of drop outs from studying piano and/or other instruments? They quit for good and don't want their kids to have the same experience learning to make music.

5 Finger Patterns

This phrase is used SO often by the entire industry of music teaching -- that now most people use it without even thinking about it. Staying dependent on "finger placements" comes from blindness. How do blind people learn to move around? They rely on muscle memory.

...in All Major/Minor Keys, Mixed Articulation, 2 Octave White Key Major Scales & Arpeggios with dynamic shape, Forearm Drops, Consistent Legato, Wrist Staccato (early independence between the hands), Phrase Shaping, Voicing/Balance Between the Hands, Voicing a Chord at End of Piece."

It is all a "superstructure" that has to be built on a strong concrete foundation:

When we say artistically, do we mean by this, so do we mean that we are going to introduce it at the final stage-- performance stage. And it is for every song the child play, when they play it very fluently, then polish it with what these piano technique can apply.

I compare it to baking cakes. Sometimes we make them for fun; sometimes we have to put icing on them and even cherries. The goal to be "on stage" is the goal from a century ago. Humanity achieved it! We have plenty of stage performers already! I am not saying that we don't need new ones any more, but rather let them develop naturally without sweat. Piano playing has to become the key-opener for a new quality of life for most of the population because maintaining creativity is the goal of education.

Can then aside each piece in teaching video, the artistic point/technique and key points be summarized in text? I am not so keen to look for things at shopping (so video).

Trust me, when you learn many piano pieces, one day the quantity will demand quality, and you WILL look everywhere for hints to play artistically. You and I and all of us hate SPAM, right? We want our questions to be answered when we are ready to hear the answers. Otherwise it all goes in deaf ears.

And also side-away again, previously, there was an explanation of Academic level 7, do we have a guideline for each level?

Yes. Right now it is inside of my head. The entire picture... I am working hard to let it out.

Shall we have a kind of map?

We learn by spirals. Second, third levels etc. will have the same structure in general with more advanced content. Here in this community, Soft Mozart teachers and parents and I are sharing all of our knowledge for others to follow in our footsteps. It seems like we have a long way to go!

There is some reading material we used, it has a simple map, listed the books on the path to final goal, it is very easy for both grown-up and kids to follow and clearly know we are. Should we have a kind of map, no need of fancy, but brief, just to help us to know where we are and where we can go next and keep us motivated for the next.

Yes! We should and we will and I will appreciate your participation in creating such materials!

Hellene, thank you for all these explanations! I like these discussions, a lot of useful info comes out and clears things up! And for me, it means I'm getting a musical education that I can understand and apply

We'll try to help you with the texts!

Mel02 wrote: Hellene, wonder what you would say about "sheet music" (thank you for all the answering about hand position) .

Yes, most of our piano pieces you may find on this website:
www.sheetmusicplus.com/
We have to create special topic with pieces names and links to exact songs. In future...

Also, hope soon we will see about the "Academic Level 7 " or some hints for it for now.

Currently you will be able to receive customized curriculum from me then uniformed since it takes time to organize everything for all the levels.