OK. So I don’t really
mean circles. What do ovals,
semi ovals, semi circles and
semi arcs have to do with
piano technique? One
important way to look at
piano technique is from the
standpoint of human anatomy.
Try to imagine the
following. All of a sudden,
you have one foot that is
one and a half feet shorter
than the other foot.
 Whether we are aware of it
or not, we all swing or
rotate our hips in circles
as we walk down the street.
Of course, most of us forget
that we started to learn
this motion at the age of
one or one and a half years.
It took some practice but
what the hell, at that age,
all we had was lots of time
to practice simple but
profound things like that.
Then all of a sudden, at the
age of 22, one of our feet
shrinks by one and one half
feet. Can you imagine what
kind of change that would
cause in our hip movement
when we try to walk? What
were once small, subtle
circular movements are now
huge distorted circular
movements.
The analogy I am drawing is
that everybody's
fingers are
different lengths
and to
ballet dance on the keys, it
is a must that we learn how
use a whole variety of
subtle but important
rotations to accommodate and
facilitate our playing.
In the next article, I will
go into more detail about
what these movements look
like in specific
circumstances and more about
piano technique. |
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