Content of Table
- Objective
- What is Piano Technique?
- Technique and Music
- Basic Approach, Interpretation, Musical Training, Perfect Pitch
Basic Procedures for Piano Practice
- The Practice Routine
- Finger Positions
- Bench Height and Distance from Piano
- Starting a Piece: Listening and Analysis (Fur Elise)
- Practice the Most Difficult Sections First
- Shortening Difficult Passages: Segmental (Bar-by-Bar) Practice
- Hands Separate Practice: Acquiring Technique
- The Continuity Rule
- The Chord Attack
- Gravity Drop, Chord Practice, and Relaxation
- Parallel Sets
- Learning and Memorizing
- Velocity, Choice of Practice Speed
- How to Relax
- Post Practice Improvement (PPI)
- Dangers of Slow Play - Pitfalls of the Intuitive Method
- Importance of Slow Play
- Fingering
- Accurate Tempo and the Metronome
- Weak Left Hand; Using One Hand to Teach the Other
- Building Endurance, Breathing
- Bad Habits: A Pianist's Worst Enemy
- Damper Pedal
- Soft Pedal, Timbre, and Normal Modes of Vibrating Strings
- Hands Together: Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu
- Summary
Selected Topics in Piano Practice
1. Tone, Rhythm and Staccato
2. Cycling (Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu)
3. Trills & Tremolos
4. Hand, Body Motions for Technique
5. Playing Fast: Scales, Arpeggios and Chromatic Scales (Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu, Beethoven's Moonlight, 3rd Movement)
- Scales: Thumb Under, Thumb Over
- The TO Motion, Explanation and Video
- Practicing TO, Speed
- Scales: Origin, Nomenclature, and Fingerings
- Arpeggios (Chopin, Cartwheel Motion)
- Thrust and Pull, Beethoven's Moonlight, 3rd Movement
- Thumb: the Most Versatile Finger; Examples of Scale/Arpeggio Practice Routines
- Fast Chromatic Scales
6. Memorizing
- Why Memorize?
- Who can, What to, and When to, Memorize
- Memorizing and Maintenance
- Hand Memory
- Starting the Memorizing Process
- Reinforcing the Memory
- Practicing Cold
- Slow Play
- Mental Timing
- Establishing Permanent Memory 1. Hand Memory 2. Music Memory 3. Photographic Memory 4. Keyboard Memory -- Mental Play 5. Theoretical Memory
- Maintenance
- Sight Readers versus Memorizers: Learning Bach's Inventions; Inventions #1, #8, #13; Quiet Hands; Sinfonia #15
- Human Memory Function
- How to Become a Good Memorizer
- Summary
7. Exercises
- Introduction: Intrinsic, Limbering, and Conditioning Exercises
- Parallel Set Exercises for Intrinsic Technical Development
- How To Use The Parallel Set Exercises
- Scales, Arpeggios, Finger Independence and Finger Lifting Exercises
- Playing (Wide) Chords, Palm Stretching Exercises
- Practicing Jumps
- Stretching and Other Exercises
- Problems with Hanon Exercises
- Practicing for Speed
8. Outlining (Beethoven's Sonata #1)
9. Polishing a Piece - Eliminating Flubs
10. Cold Hands, Illness, Injury, Ear Damage
11. Sight Reading
12. Learning Relative Pitch and Perfect Pitch (Sight Singing)
13. Videotaping and Recording Your Own Playing
14. Preparing for Performances and Recitals
- Benefits and Pitfalls of Performances/Recitals
- Basics of Flawless Performances
- Practicing for Performances
- Practicing Musically
- Casual Performances
- Performance Preparation Routines
- During the Recital
- That Unfamiliar Piano
- After the Recital
15. Origin and Control of Nervousness
16. Teaching
- Types of Teachers
- Teaching Youngsters, Parental Involvement
- Reading, Memorizing, Theory, Mental Play, Absolute Pitch
- Some Elements of Piano Lessons
- Why the Greatest Pianists Could Not Teach
17. Uprights, Grands, & Electronics, Purchasing and Care
- Grands, Uprights, or Electronics?
- Electronic Pianos
- Uprights
- Grands
- Purchasing an Acoustic Piano
- Piano Care
18. How to Start Learning Piano: Youngest Children to Old Adults
19. The “Ideal” Practice Routine (Bach’s Teachings and Invention #4)
- Learning the Rules
- Routine for Learning a New Piece (Invention #4)
- "Normal” Practice Routines and Bach’s Teachings
20. Bach: the Greatest Composer and Teacher (15 Inventions and their parallel sets)
Mathematical Theory of Piano Playing
- Why do we need a Mathematical Theory?
- The Theory of Finger Motion for Piano a. Serial, Parallel Play b. Speed Walls c. Increasing Speed
- Thermodynamics of Piano Playing
- Mozart's Formula, Beethoven and Group Theory a. Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Sonata K300 b. Beethoven: 5th Symphony, Appassionata, Waldstein
- Learning Rate Calculation (1000 Times Faster!)
- Future Research Topics a. Momentum Theory of Piano Playing b. The Physiology of Technique c. Brain Research (HS vs HT Play, etc.) d. What Causes Nervousness? e. Causes of and Remedies for Tinnitus f. What is Music? g. At What Age to Start Piano? h. The Future of Piano i. The Future of Education
Chapter 2
Tuning Your Piano
1. Introduction 2. Chromatic Scale and Temperament
- Mathematics of the Chromatic Scale and Chords
- Temperaments, Music, and the Circle of Fifths
- Pythagorean, Equal, Meantone, and “Well” Temperaments
3. Tuning Tools 4. Preparation 5. Getting Started
- Engaging and Manipulating the Tuning Lever
- Setting the Pin
- Tuning Unisons
- Sympathetic Vibrations
- Making that Final Infinitesimal Motion
- Equalizing String Tensions
- Rocking It in the Treble
- Rumblings in the Bass
- Harmonic Tuning
- What is Stretch?
- Precision, Precision, Precision
6. Tuning Procedures and Temperament
7. Making Minor Repairs (Voicing and Polishing the Capstans)
- Hammer Voicing
- Polishing the Capstans
Chapter 3
Scientific Method, Theory of Learning and the Brain1. Introduction 2. The Scientific Approach 3. What is a scientific Method? 4. Theory of Learning 5. What Causes Dreams and Methods for Controlling Them
- The Falling Dream
- Inability-to-Run Dream
- Late-to-Exam or Getting-Lost Dream
- Solving my Long and Complex Dream
- Controlling Dreams
- What Dreams Tell Us about our Brains