I love out of tune pianos and they are plenteous resting in church basements.
Musician Malcolm Kogut has been tickling the ivories since he was 14 and won the NPM DMMD Musician of the Year award in 99. He has CDs along with many published books. Malcolm played in the pit for many Broadway touring shows. When away from the keyboard, he loves exploring the nooks, crannies and arresting beauty of the Adirondack Mountains, battling gravity on the ski slopes and roller coasters.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Saturday, January 25, 2020
In piano playing, what does “to caress the keys” mean?
There
is an old technique called carrezando which literally means to caress
the keys. Carrezando playing can injure a musician, it is very
dangerous. The reason is because people think it is a technique when in
reality it is the symptom or end result of technique. It should not be
sought after but rejoiced when it appears.
This
is a condition of virtuoso teaching. Many virtuosos move properly and
never fully learned the biomechanics of playing because playing well
came naturally to them so when they teach, they tell the student what
they feel and not what they are doing to get that feeling. The student
then tries to force that feeling into their playing but they can make many
mistakes while trying to obtain it. Virtuosos are often the worse teachers because they
sometimes don’t know how they do what they do.
Consequently
students who try to force caressing into their technique begin pressing
into the keys, playing with flat fingers and doing all sorts of things
which will strain the tendons and then crippling pain will ensue over
time because the damage is cumulative. The pianist will ignore the warning signs
until one day something just breaks.
Ergonomic
playing requires in/out motions, up/down, forward/backward and
left/right. When you combine all these movements the player begins to
play up and allows gravity to play down. The symptom of the congealment
of all these motions is the feeling of caressing the keys. The pianist
should not be caressing them but should feel like they are caressing
them. When done properly the pianist won’t even feel their fingers
because the skeleton will be playing from the arm muscles while the
tendons in the hands predominately relax.
Much
like petting a dog. Your arm lifts up, you move it toward the head,
then down, then you pet down the dog’s back. There are four movements
there and without them, there would be no petting. The petting is the
result of the four movements where the hand appears do be doing the petting, using the arm.
Better
yet, lay your arm on a table and lift your elbow off the table, allow
your wrist to flex but keep all your fingertips on the table top. Now
pull your arm off the table. Feel that your fingers are caressing the
table but the fingers are NOT doing the caressing, it is the result of
the arm pulling away. THAT is the carrezando technique.
But every motion
MUST have an equal and opposite motion. Like petting that dog, before
you can pet down the dog’s back you must first lift up and forward
before you can drop down and backward. If you focus on caressing, you
will lose the equal and opposite motions required to play properly. Your
fingers have no muscles, all the muscles which move your fingers are in
your arm. The finger bones move by a pulley system of tendons. All
these equal and opposite motions are what gives a pianist a graceful
look but some players force that look into their playing. Now, some
schools of technique, such as the Russian, will teach you to do this
hoping that carrezando will magically appear but shortcuts often come at
a cost. If not pain, ignorance of the mechanics.
It
is erroneously thought that the carrezando technique will give you
great speed and a very light pearly touch. Again, that is the end result
feeling of a proper technique. Don’t ever seek it, it will find you if
your technique is proper.
First,
you have to find a good teacher. If you want to find a good teacher,
don’t listen to them play, listen to their students. If 90% of them play
the way you want to play, you found the right teacher. Hopefully that
teacher provides student recital opportunities for you to go hear several at a time. Otherwise, go to any of
those ubiquitous Chopin competitions and ask the good students whom they
take lessons from. CAREFUL the student isn’t a virtuoso whom the
teacher is just guiding.
*I* have a virtuoso student but it is nothing I did. The kid just plays correctly naturally and i keep out of his way.
Answer requested for Malcolm Kogut
Labels:
abduct,
achieve,
carrezando,
fingers,
injury,
malcolm kogut,
organ,
piano,
playing,
technique,
tendons
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Monday, January 20, 2020
Do ergonomic keyboards and mice really help to prevent/decrease pain?
Pain and hand problems are caused by moving improperly. Ergonomic equipment, in theory, is designed to force your body into proper positions. They CAN work but it would be better for you to learn how to move ergonomically without the equipment.
The reason is, let’s say you have an improper ulnar deviation when you type (wrist twists to the left on your left and right on your right), you can still execute that improper motion with an ergonomic keyboard and, what good is fixing your typing deviation when you open doors, brush your teeth, write, use your phone or drive your car with the same deviation?
You can’t spot fix ergonomic problems. It is all or nothing. That is why people don’t heal because they try to fix isolated symptoms and not everything that is part of the problem. You may have pain in your wrist but that is only the location of the symptom. The problem is most likely how you are using your whole arm.
Often it is not a single movement that is a problem but a cavalcade of movement issues. You may type with flat fingers, curled fingers, too much pressure, equalized fingers, not enough “up,” radial deviation, you may abduct too much, you might isolate a finger, dorsiflexion, have an isolated elbow or shoulder . . . there are a lot of motions we should not do but we do them because many of us are lazy and unaware.
In the old days, manual typewriters forced us to type with the weight of the arm or, gravity. Today's effortless keyboards have insidiously encouraged us not to use gravity and the fulcrum of the elbow to type and thus, we isolate smaller parts which strain our tendons. There is no such thing as "repetitive stress." There is only improper movement and if you move improperly, all movement is then "repetitive stress."
Imagine casting a fishing pole with just your fingers, you'd probably hurt yourself. Now imagine that only with the wrist. That is better but still not optimal. Now with your elbow. Better. Add the shoulder. Notice how you are now using all the parts of the arm for one movement. No single part is isolated but they all share in the casting, including but not exclusively the fingers. Now as you cast, notice how your feet are planted, how your weight or center of gravity is distributed, your back and abs, notice also the equal and opposite motion required to cast. In order to cast forward you must first cast backward. Typing, too. In order to type down you must first have an up motion. Without it, you will strain your flexor tendons. That is also the most dangerous part of using a mouse. We rest our index finger and long flexor tendon flat on the button and click with no "up" or equal and opposite motion. There is nothing wrong with the mouse, only how we use it.
The laws of physics must be obeyed. Break them and there is a price to pay.
The reason is, let’s say you have an improper ulnar deviation when you type (wrist twists to the left on your left and right on your right), you can still execute that improper motion with an ergonomic keyboard and, what good is fixing your typing deviation when you open doors, brush your teeth, write, use your phone or drive your car with the same deviation?
You can’t spot fix ergonomic problems. It is all or nothing. That is why people don’t heal because they try to fix isolated symptoms and not everything that is part of the problem. You may have pain in your wrist but that is only the location of the symptom. The problem is most likely how you are using your whole arm.
Often it is not a single movement that is a problem but a cavalcade of movement issues. You may type with flat fingers, curled fingers, too much pressure, equalized fingers, not enough “up,” radial deviation, you may abduct too much, you might isolate a finger, dorsiflexion, have an isolated elbow or shoulder . . . there are a lot of motions we should not do but we do them because many of us are lazy and unaware.
In the old days, manual typewriters forced us to type with the weight of the arm or, gravity. Today's effortless keyboards have insidiously encouraged us not to use gravity and the fulcrum of the elbow to type and thus, we isolate smaller parts which strain our tendons. There is no such thing as "repetitive stress." There is only improper movement and if you move improperly, all movement is then "repetitive stress."
Imagine casting a fishing pole with just your fingers, you'd probably hurt yourself. Now imagine that only with the wrist. That is better but still not optimal. Now with your elbow. Better. Add the shoulder. Notice how you are now using all the parts of the arm for one movement. No single part is isolated but they all share in the casting, including but not exclusively the fingers. Now as you cast, notice how your feet are planted, how your weight or center of gravity is distributed, your back and abs, notice also the equal and opposite motion required to cast. In order to cast forward you must first cast backward. Typing, too. In order to type down you must first have an up motion. Without it, you will strain your flexor tendons. That is also the most dangerous part of using a mouse. We rest our index finger and long flexor tendon flat on the button and click with no "up" or equal and opposite motion. There is nothing wrong with the mouse, only how we use it.
The laws of physics must be obeyed. Break them and there is a price to pay.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Shameless Plug
I have composed a collection of songs
for church use and have never plugged them before. So, why not.
The book and CD is called Psalms for
the Church Year, Volume Ten, published by GIA. If you would like to
hear a sample, go to the following link. My favorite is selection
ten, Psalm 69: Lord in Your Great Love.
https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/psalms-for-the-church-year-recording-cd429
GIA's venerable Psalms for the Church
Year series has a fresh face with this new volume from Malcolm Kogut,
who brings his gift for melody and his comfortable jazz-tinged style
to this important new collection of psalms.
Malcolm fills some repertoire "holes" with these settings. He has set Psalm 47: "God Mounts His Throne to Shouts of Joy" for Ascension, and Psalm 45: "The Queen Stands at Your Right Hand" for Assumption, along with a mix of other common and lesser-known psalms. Using primarily ICEL refrains and several Grail translations, this volume is a worthy addition to the Psalms for the Church Year series. And, as with the other volumes, it includes reprint boxes of all refrains and a liturgical use index.
Malcolm fills some repertoire "holes" with these settings. He has set Psalm 47: "God Mounts His Throne to Shouts of Joy" for Ascension, and Psalm 45: "The Queen Stands at Your Right Hand" for Assumption, along with a mix of other common and lesser-known psalms. Using primarily ICEL refrains and several Grail translations, this volume is a worthy addition to the Psalms for the Church Year series. And, as with the other volumes, it includes reprint boxes of all refrains and a liturgical use index.
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
How long does it take a pianist to retrain muscle memory to play a new motion?
This
is a wonderful question. There is no such thing, literally, as muscle
memory. Movement is hardwired into the brain, not the muscles.
New
muscle memory movement is very easy to wire into the brain and it can be immediate however, the
brain never forgets the old patterns so, as a musician, if you get
nervous or your body is cold, or you go into autopilot, it is very easy
for the old movements to reassert themselves and take over despite new and
more efficient neural pathways having been created since. This is especially true for
musicians and also, how and what we play is very important. This is why
musicians often claim they can play perfectly in their living room but
on stage it all falls apart. What is happening is the old muscle memory
takes over because of environmental factors such as the presence of an audience, different bench height, temperature, nerves, etcetera.
There
is another danger here. Many teachers instruct the student to build
strength and endurance to overcome technical deficiencies. This works to
a certain extent but also puts the musician on the path to injury. If the
musician then learns new and proper movements, the improper muscles used
previously will immediately atrophy. This is why improperly trained
musicians feel rusty or stiff after missing a few days of practice
because the wrongly built muscles will get weak, quickly. Proper playing
utilizes fulcrums, alignment, gravity, ergonomics and the laws of
physics, not muscle. This is counter intuitive to most musicians and
to many teachers who are ignorant of anatomy and physics. Mediocrity is the
result of using the wrong muscles, not lack of talent. This is because
most teachers have no idea what they are doing. They only know what they
know but what they don’t know is what creates injury, tension, fatigue
and sloppy playing.
A
beginning student may learn a piece of music and there may be flaws in
his movement. Over time he gets better and learns new songs and rewires
some of the improper movements in his brain. He progresses further and
his technique improves and his brain learns newer and even more proper
movement. THE DANGER is playing old repertoire because even though his
technique improves and he now has proper movements, the brain remembers
the lesser or improper movements of previous repertoire from a time when he moved
less properly. It is important for musicians to either never play old
repertoire or, re-learn each piece with the newer, more proper motions.
The
greatest danger is, as I previously said, the improper muscles atrophy
if not used. If a musician built improper muscles to play a piece well,
then as he progresses and loses that muscle because it is no longer
needed since he is more ergonomic now, then he plays that old
repertoire, the brain expects that the former muscle is there and tries
to play the work “normally.” Since the muscle is no longer present, this
is when the musician runs the risk of greatly injuring themselves. This
is why a well trained musician can one day, out of nowhere, injure
themselves. Most injuries are actually cumulative and it is one of those "muscle memory" moments that serves as the proverbial "straw that breaks the camel's back."
In
addition, rewiring your brain on your instrument isn’t sufficient. You
must simultaneously do the same with how you ring a doorbell, tie your
shoes, brush your teeth, pick up a piece of paper, type, swipe, wipe . .
.
There is no such thing as repetitive strain, only improper movement. If you move improperly, all movement can become repetitive strain and as I said, it is cumulative. That is why a forty year old might get out of bed with stiffness, aches and pains while a 70 who has moved properly all their lives can rise with elan and alacrity. You can take that to the movement bank.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Q: Why is it difficult to play between the black piano keys?
Piano keys are a fulcrum and as we all know from being children, fulcrums are lightest on the edge. Sit on a see saw and notice if you sit inward, you weigh less and the opposite person has the advantage. Sit on the very outside edge and you weigh more.
So, playing on the outside of the piano key gives you more power and the keys are easier to depress because they require less force. If you play on the inside of the key, in the black area or, closer to the fulcrum, the keys will be harder to depress.
However, this is only predominately true if you have poor technique. There are several ways to give the arm more power to the fingers such as proper alignment, rotation, in and out motions because your fingers are different lengths and a fulcrum unto themselves, gravity and basic laws of physics such as every motion must have an equal and opposite motion. Then, there are things not to do which if we do, will weaken or diminish our virtuosity.
Some teachers just teach dot matching and don’t have a knowledge of physics, biology and ergonomics. If your teacher doesn’t know what a pronator is or how to adjust the elbow so the four and five fingers are just as strong as the other fingers . . . that teacher may hurt you. If you are lucky, you will only be mediocre.
So, playing on the outside of the piano key gives you more power and the keys are easier to depress because they require less force. If you play on the inside of the key, in the black area or, closer to the fulcrum, the keys will be harder to depress.
However, this is only predominately true if you have poor technique. There are several ways to give the arm more power to the fingers such as proper alignment, rotation, in and out motions because your fingers are different lengths and a fulcrum unto themselves, gravity and basic laws of physics such as every motion must have an equal and opposite motion. Then, there are things not to do which if we do, will weaken or diminish our virtuosity.
Some teachers just teach dot matching and don’t have a knowledge of physics, biology and ergonomics. If your teacher doesn’t know what a pronator is or how to adjust the elbow so the four and five fingers are just as strong as the other fingers . . . that teacher may hurt you. If you are lucky, you will only be mediocre.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)