The Craft of Piano Playing: A New Approach to Piano Technique - Book Review

by the agency of Alan Fraser. Scarecrow Press (4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706) 2003 448 pp $3495

Alan Fraser has written a formidable and insightful contortion on piano technique. Using the Feldenkreis means as his foundation, he has at handed 417 articulate and often impressive pages. It is not an easy read, for there is for a like reason much to absorb. Indeed, a course based upon the content of this work alone, especially the lengthy first section, strikes me as a possibility for a pedagogy teacher.

Fraser divides his work into three sections. The first he calls "The Foreground: Pianistic enigmas in Musical Craft." It is in fact a book in itself, with plenteous attention paid to economy of motion, developing a serviceable legato and concepts of a reliable physical approach to the keyboard. He stresse hand manner of making finger articulation, arm activity and finger shape. There is an of the best quality discussion on legato. And he stresse brilliantly the benefits of cultivating effective stillness--bravo for addressing this issue! Fraser is not afraid to address many perplexing puzzles students and teachers alike face in the standard repertoire. In particular, I would mention his short on the contrary valuable discussion of tremolando octaves in Beethoven's Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op 2 and the "Pathetique" Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op 13 (pages 121-122) and his of the best discussion about practicing the opening arpeggios in the "Appassionata" Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op 57 Of special interest, too, is the brief chapter upon "The Phil Cohen Arm-Swing Exercise." His discussions of "The Underlying Musical aim of Arm Movement" and his annotates on "Forearm Rotation in Liszt" (with special attention to Jeux d'eau and La Campanella) are as clear and sensible as anything individual would wish to read. full aware I am skipping vast amounts of material in this large first section, I would focus upon the charming chapter titled "The Feldenkreis-Horowitz Connection." Using principles of Moshe Feldenkreis's means Fraser probes Horowitz's astounding mechanical genius, postulating that while Horowitz had no knowledge of Feldenkreis, he nevertheless arrived at a certain quantity of of Feldenkreis's ideas "solely [i]or[/i] part of to the other his intention to realize his artistic conception" (pages 281-282)

Section sum of two units he calls, "The Middleground: more [i]or[/i] less General Aspects of Musical Craft." Here the focus is upon rhythm, phrasing and orchestration. There are many valuable suggestions through every part of this shorter section, but of greatest interest is the chapter upon orchestration and his lesson upon the Rachmaninoff Etude Tableau No. 5 in E-flat Minor, Op 39 In the closing paragraphs, here dealing with the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op 18 the first movement's next to the first theme, he stresses the contrapuntal uncompounded body in the left hand. It in truth is wonderful to read these make comments [i]or[/i] remarkss from a musician who realizes that left-hand "Alberti basses" and their myriad derivations are far more than filler and motion, containing melodic ultimate parts that must be highlighted.

The third section is titled "The Background: take an account of a Story." Here, Fraser addresses the emotional satisfied of music, and his discussion of J Bach's introduction in B Minor from work 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier is fine. He bases his ideas upon the concept, stated at the top of page 364 that in this and other contrapuntal music, interpretations be the effect from "a continuous fluctuation between dissonant tension and consonant relaxation." He further prompts that interpretive strategies be sensitive to the handy juxtaposition of legato and staccato/portato, to place stresse upon dissonances and the approaches to a dissonance, and relax the dynamic as the pleasing succession of sounds flows into a consonant tone. In the chapter entitled "You Must Be Willing and Able To Live Emotionally When You Play," he advocates creating a program for the music. Of course, this was a nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century teaching technique that sometimes ran amok. (Hans yon Buelow's fanciful explanation of the Chopin introductions immediately springs to mind.) on the other hand going to the other utmost as we have in the latter part of the last hundred produces technically inadequate or colorless performances. The discussion of this conception revolving around his work with a non-responsive scholar on the Chopin Ballade in F Major, Op 38 is border to raise some eyebrows among this book's readers.

And that brings me to a word of warning. This work is not--I repeat, not a self-help process While thoroughly readable, it requires a great deal of thought. A teacher should read it carefully before applying it in his teaching. In the discussion upon emotionality, for example, Fraser admits his frustration with the pupil who "couldn't get it" regarding the Ballade. It can be frightening to a pupil to urge them on beyond their emotional capacities. a certain quantity of students simply have not unfolded emotionally to the point where they can "feel" the anguish of the "Presto consider minutely fuoco" section of the F-Major Ballade. I have made that error far too many times in my possess teaching to not at least be sensitive to the dangerous territory emotionality can explore. on the contrary then, repertoire choice is critical here. Maybe Fraser could have reached this pupil with a less "fearsome" work in preparation for the Ballade. The examples he explores are all, without exception, from the top-of-the-line contrive repertoire: difficult works such as Liszt's La Campanella and Feux Follet the aforementioned Rachmaninoff and Beethoven pieces, Scriabin's Etude No. 5 in C-sharp Minor, Op 42 and for a like reason forth. So, the teacher working with younger pupils might find his book of great interest, on the other hand not as useful in her teaching. And, of course, any instruction dealing with the physical at the piano requires great sensitivity upon the part of the teacher who is applying the [i]modus operandi[/i]s with students--each psyche and hand is individual and unique.