My Piano coaching by audio / video analysis includes everything that a pianist needs to succeed:
- piano technique (theory and practice),
- interpretation,
- organization of work and rest,
- memorisation techniques,
- how to cope with stage fright,
- preparation of concerts / competitions / exams.
For an experienced pianist, pianistic movements are as natural as breathing. On the other hand, students use many unnecessary movements, often neglecting or unaware of the essential ones.
With a great dedication, my first piano teacher was telling me regularly for eight years that while playing “the finger must be in contact with the bottom of the key”, and naturally I went out of my way to try and do exactly that. Not understanding the crucial point, I tried over and over to excessively increase the pressure on the keys, which never brought the desired result.On the contrary! Of course, she wanted me to acquire the Neuhaus “bridge”. But it is hardly surprising - even Neuhaus does not explain that exhaustively - cf. Neuhaus’ bridge and crane. The explanation is very simple - one must only suggest that the student try to lightly “push” the piano forward (cf. chapters How to easily obtain “the bridge” and Elongated fingers, bridge and crane) and that’s all there is to it!
As we know, eveything is governed by the same laws of physics and anatomy, and so are the movements of our body. What’s more, a great majority of pianistic movements have a parallel in our daily lives. Evidently, it will be easier for the student to understand and be able to carry out movements that he knows from his daily life. As we saw in my example above, explanations of pianistic movements taught in a traditional manner, that is to say using professional terms, are by nature fairly cryptic, and therefore less attainable and understood by the student. They can even appear abstract.
For this reason, my teaching method often refers to movements that we do each day, even without thinking about them. In these examples, it is much easier to understand the mechanisms that come into play. If you realize this, your technique will improve significantly, and the results will snowball because you have begun to play in a way that conforms to the physics that govern your body’s movements.
And even if certain pianistic movements are different than those found in our daily lives, to compare the similarities and differences offers a lot of help in solving many technical problems.
On page Example: how do my lessons by video take place?
you will find more details on my method and lessons.