This is an interesting topic that was brought up in a reddit post a couple years ago. The question was along the lines of "what is more important, the muscles or the brain". Ie, is building muscles imperative to good technique, or is just "knowing what to do" enough on its own. Having quit playing entirely for a decade, I found myself in the unique situation to explore this on multiple instruments - any muscles I had previously built will have long since atrophied so I would be starting from scratch as a comeback player. In piano I had zero problems executing all my old technique - the problem was endurance. For instance, Erlkonig, the opening of Ondine, and this Chopin etude, as well as WTC Cm prelude. I can play them just as I fine as I used to, but my forearms are on FIRE by the end, or in the case of Erlkonig and octave etude, I can't get through the whole thing like I used to without running out of steam and bogging down completely. Like biking through deep mud. I had the same experience on trumpet - I could play the full range of the instrument and with a good sound and control, as if I had never stopped playing ten years ago - in fact I was playing even better because some of my bad habits had atrophied! But my endurance was deplorable. I could play great for a 5-10 minutes and then it was rapid downhill from there. Forget playing for an hour above the staff, not happening. Building that endurance back up has been a long process. On the clarinet it was incredibly stark - I could play great for maybe 2 minutes, and then my face started leaking and my throat started hurting. I really underestimated how much muscular strength is demanded by clarinet - significantly more than any other instrument I have experience with, even saxophone and bassoon. Having to rebuild throat muscles was the biggest surprise there because it's not something you think about when learning the instrument, it's just something that happens gradually without you realising. But if you don't have them built up and go straight to playing like you used to, ... ouch. Owie owie owie. Bad things happen fast. Similarly I could see this leading to overuse injuries even on piano by somebody going hard on technique after a suitably long enough break to have atrophied their supporting muscles.
@@tarogatothepotatocat2179 Thank you for your response and thoughtful explanation. I addressed this problem 24 years ago in Chapter 2 of my book, “Piano Power, A Breakthrough Approach to Improving Your Technique”. You have certainly hit the nail on the head with your description of your inability to endure on the several instruments that you came back to after many years of not playing. Please see the following link… pianopower.com/excerpts/ pianopower.com
As a former child piano prodigy, let me put it this way. I didn't always play like that, but I always knew how I was _supposed_ to play. I was a frightfully headstrong student, ignoring the method books and going straight into the standard literature, and I'm pretty sure I never took my teachers' advice until college. Just to give you an idea, the very first piano piece I ever played was Maple Leaf Rag, the second piece was Chopin's Nocturnes Opus 9, and the third piece was all three movements of Moonlight Sonata. Then it was Chopin Preludes 15, 16, and 17. Lol, my poor piano teacher....she was along for the ride. The lessons went like, "okay what did you learn this week???" Oh my where did the time go....
@@peter5.056 Thank you for your response Peter. Not being a child prodigy myself, I’ve always been interested in peering into the brains of these talented people in order to get a better understanding of what’s really going on there. As we progress from childhood to adulthood, it has been theorized that the brain normally passes through specific stages of development…so that by adolescence the first inklings of the ability to think abstractly gradually appear. Interestingly, many adults never achieve that stage and are incapable of thinking abstractly and are stuck in a stage called “concrete operational”. I distinctly remember being a freshman in high school and having difficulty with the idea of variables in algebra. My good friend who is a brilliant electrical engineer, remembers having the same experience. It seems that in the case of prodigies, there is an ability to abstract at a much earlier age. One other thing that I’ve noticed about prodigies is their ability to play perfectly in time… as if there is an internal metronome operating at all times that efficiently regulates their practicing at the piano. I’ve always made a point of asking a prodigy after a concert how he/she was able to do what I had just witnessed and the response is always the same…complete bewilderment. I’m wondering if you have ever checked out the pianist, Joey Alexander. At 11 years old, he was one of the world’s greatest jazz pianists. (he is now 21 years old ). When asked how he was able to play like he does his response was that God played through him.
@@pianopowerlessons I could think abstractly when I was 2 years old, and I have clear memories all the way back to when I was 4 months old. I could speak in complete sentences when I was 18 months old, and read at that age too. I suppose I was born pre-wired to translate text into communication, and this carried into my piano playing. By the time I was in kindergarten, I could communicate at an adult level, and this made my first school years very odd indeed; I felt like an alien on my own planet.
@@peter5.056 That’s fascinating. The only claim to fame that I have along those lines is when I told another student in the second grade that there wasn’t an Easter Bunny. He cried hysterically, and as a result, I was sent to the principal’s office for further interrogation.
Seems we all had our "ways" of exasperating our piano teachers. Mine was NOT having the talent and forcing her to teach me Rhapsody in Blue. That poor woman tried her best but it was way over my head.
@@antoniorosa2365 Thank you Antonio. I appreciate your feedback. For more information about technique and practice methods please visit: pianopower.com/
Hello Rick! Just stumbled upon your channel in my feed. Absolutely love the lessons you give! Very grateful for the accessible insights and knowledge. Subbed!
This is an interesting topic that was brought up in a reddit post a couple years ago. The question was along the lines of "what is more important, the muscles or the brain". Ie, is building muscles imperative to good technique, or is just "knowing what to do" enough on its own.
Having quit playing entirely for a decade, I found myself in the unique situation to explore this on multiple instruments - any muscles I had previously built will have long since atrophied so I would be starting from scratch as a comeback player. In piano I had zero problems executing all my old technique - the problem was endurance. For instance, Erlkonig, the opening of Ondine, and this Chopin etude, as well as WTC Cm prelude. I can play them just as I fine as I used to, but my forearms are on FIRE by the end, or in the case of Erlkonig and octave etude, I can't get through the whole thing like I used to without running out of steam and bogging down completely. Like biking through deep mud.
I had the same experience on trumpet - I could play the full range of the instrument and with a good sound and control, as if I had never stopped playing ten years ago - in fact I was playing even better because some of my bad habits had atrophied! But my endurance was deplorable. I could play great for a 5-10 minutes and then it was rapid downhill from there. Forget playing for an hour above the staff, not happening. Building that endurance back up has been a long process. On the clarinet it was incredibly stark - I could play great for maybe 2 minutes, and then my face started leaking and my throat started hurting. I really underestimated how much muscular strength is demanded by clarinet - significantly more than any other instrument I have experience with, even saxophone and bassoon. Having to rebuild throat muscles was the biggest surprise there because it's not something you think about when learning the instrument, it's just something that happens gradually without you realising. But if you don't have them built up and go straight to playing like you used to, ... ouch. Owie owie owie. Bad things happen fast.
Similarly I could see this leading to overuse injuries even on piano by somebody going hard on technique after a suitably long enough break to have atrophied their supporting muscles.
@@tarogatothepotatocat2179 Thank you for your response and thoughtful explanation. I addressed this problem 24 years ago in Chapter 2 of my book, “Piano Power, A Breakthrough Approach to Improving Your Technique”. You have certainly hit the nail on the head with your description of your inability to endure on the several instruments that you came back to after many years of not playing. Please see the following link…
pianopower.com/excerpts/
pianopower.com
Thank you Rick ❤❤❤❤
You’re very welcome!
As a former child piano prodigy, let me put it this way. I didn't always play like that, but I always knew how I was _supposed_ to play. I was a frightfully headstrong student, ignoring the method books and going straight into the standard literature, and I'm pretty sure I never took my teachers' advice until college. Just to give you an idea, the very first piano piece I ever played was Maple Leaf Rag, the second piece was Chopin's Nocturnes Opus 9, and the third piece was all three movements of Moonlight Sonata. Then it was Chopin Preludes 15, 16, and 17. Lol, my poor piano teacher....she was along for the ride. The lessons went like, "okay what did you learn this week???" Oh my where did the time go....
@@peter5.056 Thank you for your response Peter. Not being a child prodigy myself, I’ve always been interested in peering into the brains of these talented people in order to get a better understanding of what’s really going on there. As we progress from childhood to adulthood, it has been theorized that the brain normally passes through specific stages of development…so that by adolescence the first inklings of the ability to think abstractly gradually appear. Interestingly, many adults never achieve that stage and are incapable of thinking abstractly and are stuck in a stage called “concrete operational”. I distinctly remember being a freshman in high school and having difficulty with the idea of variables in algebra. My good friend who is a brilliant electrical engineer, remembers having the same experience. It seems that in the case of prodigies, there is an ability to abstract at a much earlier age. One other thing that I’ve noticed about prodigies is their ability to play perfectly in time… as if there is an internal metronome operating at all times that efficiently regulates their practicing at the piano. I’ve always made a point of asking a prodigy after a concert how he/she was able to do what I had just witnessed and the response is always the same…complete bewilderment.
I’m wondering if you have ever checked out the pianist, Joey Alexander. At 11 years old, he was one of the world’s greatest jazz pianists. (he is now 21 years old ). When asked how he was able to play like he does his response was that God played through him.
@@pianopowerlessons I could think abstractly when I was 2 years old, and I have clear memories all the way back to when I was 4 months old. I could speak in complete sentences when I was 18 months old, and read at that age too. I suppose I was born pre-wired to translate text into communication, and this carried into my piano playing. By the time I was in kindergarten, I could communicate at an adult level, and this made my first school years very odd indeed; I felt like an alien on my own planet.
@@peter5.056 That’s fascinating. The only claim to fame that I have along those lines is when I told another student in the second grade that there wasn’t an Easter Bunny. He cried hysterically, and as a result, I was sent to the principal’s office for further interrogation.
@@pianopowerlessons lol
Seems we all had our "ways" of exasperating our piano teachers. Mine was NOT having the talent and forcing her to teach me Rhapsody in Blue. That poor woman tried her best but it was way over my head.
Very useful reflexions , a refreshing perspective on piano practicing habits ... congratulations and thanks
for sharing ! On
@@antoniorosa2365 Thank you Antonio. I appreciate your feedback. For more information about technique and practice methods please visit: pianopower.com/
Thank you so much. 🎉 Wonderful information.
@@Tautropfenoase You’re welcome.
Hello Rick! Just stumbled upon your channel in my feed. Absolutely love the lessons you give! Very grateful for the accessible insights and knowledge. Subbed!
Thank you very much! Please spread the word and also visit www.pianopower.com for more information along these lines.