Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner is there a european technique difference with hand position

already as mentioned my hand has curved instead of curled fingers
a big plus already
there is a lot that is going in the past few days
so I am looking forward to further improvements

Maduro, what is your purpose in this thread? What are you trying to achieve with this thread and the posts?

the original purpose was to ask if anyone was familiar with such an application
of the straight fingers.

once no one knew of it or was familiar
and coupled with the gauntlets being thrown that this was an impossible method

I took up the challenge to say
i would try it for a month
and then come back to see if there was any improvement.

simply an experiment at this time.

if in fact there is improvement and some things going on
perhaps one day someone will say I know what that is

it is blah blah blah
or something like that

I would like to vindicate myself
so that I can walk away not feeling like a dope
which people like pianoloverus would have me believe.

really at this point I want to prove that there is something to this method

I was there with the teacher and I heard my scales improve under her teaching

I was with her for at least 3 months and already came to the table able to play
for goodness sake I am a church musician with multiple choirs under my belt
so I am no newbie.

so to sum it up

I just want to validate the technique or find some understanding as to its purpose
since no one knows I would like to find out.

if you can't play a scale that slow with the right notes and decent rhythmical accuracy and if you can't see that, then there is something wrong.

"No one knows" about this ridiculous secret technique. That in itself would make any reasonable person doubt it made sense. Unless. of course, the whole thread is trolling.

sigh

somebody should just post a video doing the exact same scale and that exact same speed but properly for the other person to realise.

So guys it has been a long road with many horrible things thrown around

I never wavered and my tenacity has paid off

I think I am understanding both the reason for the straight fingers and why it is so effective

As I was trying to execute this "horrible looking technique
my wrists were high
because my muscles and tendons along the meta carpals were not strong or strengthened enough to be able to straighten my fingers without lifting my wrists high

pianoloverus was on me because my fingers werent straight but if they were not straight it is because my muscles were not strong enough to be straight.
this is important I never said that the wrists should be high i was aiming for straigher fingers which cause stretching along the fingers and hand

It also created resistance

my teachers encouragement when played scales in front of her was to straighten the fingers

why because it strengthens the fingers a lot
it also forces a stretch of the muscles and tendons
creating a more relaxed bridge eventually

while I was doing this exercise or experiment
I was trying to recapture the feelings and memories from those practice sessions.

I am now able to recapture at least a part of the essence of this method.
see :56-1:03
here you get an idea what it will look like after a few months of practice

straight fingers is a goal that can only be realized through much time with this method

the results are that the fingers are stretched and strong and the bridge is both supple and strong.
as your fingers become stretched the bridge will come down to a normal position
although the fingers still stretch out. and be able to reach the key bed from a higher height making it look rather strange to me

my fingers may not be completely straight while doing scales for some time
but the goal is there slow and fast practice
fast practice is essential with this method she constantly encouraged me to play to my limit.
once the accuracy was there. with the slow practice

I only apologize I could not render a better video example

final

I miss that woman and wherever she is I send her blessings

thank you all for participating in this experiment

I see lots of tension in the thumb and pinky, the tone is uneven, with some notes not even being heard at times. Lots of extraneous finger movement when not pressing a key (lifting them way off the keys). And really what is important is the sound. Why do you make mistakes sometimes in playing a C major scale, one hand alone, one octave? The thumb crossing under sometimes missed the key, and like I said, some of the notes don't sound. These things should not be happening, I don't care what technique you play with. If it doesn't sound good, then whatever you're doing isn't working.

Please seek out a good teacher and submit yourself to what they have to teach over a period of years. This has been said time and again on this and other forums, and you are being belligerent in insisting that 1) you can teach yourself something you don't know how to do and 2) that you are improving. If you are happy, that is wonderful, but please understand if you were studying with a GOOD teacher, you would be much better.

beligerant is a pretty strong word

first of all I havent practiced in months I am rusty as heck just getting back on my game
second
I am an organist more than a pianist I played hammond organ in service
for the last 12 years the approaches are completely different
the piano is very precise where on the hammond the sloppiness adds to the performance further my playing is more about chordal melody playing
and so i rely more on chordal playing then scalar passages

now that I am playing more piano I am interested in getting back on my scales
were there mistakes sure there were mistakes but even when I had teachers
slow playing always revealed such weaknesses

moreover I am a gospel player who has spent most of his time in Db and Ab and Eb and Gb then I have in C
professor Austin from Queens borough community college music program
often stated that C was a harder key to play scalar because there were no reference points.


are there holes in my lawn yes

do I get paid to play every week
am I making a living yes I am do i need to grow
yes but I have come all this way with my ability to both read and improvise
and arrange and play both organ and piano and direct choirs and be payed for it enough to not have to work any other job

so if I am beligerant as you say it is because well
there are many teachers who cant do all that I can do.
many can play from the book but cant improvise
and many can improvise but cant read
many can do both but cant arrange
and play by ear.
since my paycheck relies more on the arranging and choir teaching
that is where my focus lies

but here is a sample of what this self taught musician does every sunday
amazing grace improvisation

will I look for a teacher
perhaps
I am not adverse to it
but right now
my priorities are teaching the choirs and doing nice arrangements.
for service

You miss my point, as well as that of many of the other posters on this topic. It's not about justifying who you are and what you do for a living, etc. It's about the claims you made about this technique, and how that isn't showing in the results you've provided. Plain and simple.

You said if I do A then Z happens. So a challenge was made for you to put that in practice and see if it is true. Others said in order to get to Z, you'd need a teacher to guide you through it. You decided to go on your own to prove your claim. You did A, but Z clearly did not happen. This has nothing to do with what you do for a living, nor is anyone expecting concert pianist results. However, your results fell way short of your claim. That is my point.

edited to add: your claim was in regards to strictly playing scales on the piano, and not improvisation, playing organ, arrangements, or any other number of skills that are perfectly valid in their own right. My criticism therefore is not of anything else you do, but in reference to your claim about scales on the piano.

good point
so here are the scales
you tell me if you hear an improvement over the first video done on page one

8 scales 8 keys

nm

Hi maduro,
I very much like your playing, it's full of soul.

Regards - Ernst

I agree. I like your music way better than I like your technical exercises, personally.

So I signed up for piano lessons at a music school in my neighborhood
they are supposed to be pretty good with the relaxation thing.

so mr beligerant has decided maybe I need some help

thanks everyone