Leschetizky is wise in stating, “If you think yourself a poor specimen, you will probably always remain one, or most likely become one, but if you think of yourself as having the possibilities of greatness in you, there is a chance for you.” If people do not believe in themselves, they will have a hard time amounting to much.
I like that Leschetizky in part emphasizes the importance of listening to oneself. Speaking from my own experience, I do not think students do enough of this today. I have caught mistakes when listening to recordings of myself that I did not notice when practicing. I have also thought I sounded terrible when practicing, and then hear a recording of myself and found I liked aspects of my playing. We often do not sound exactly how we think we do when practicing, and I think we would have a better conception of our sound if we listened more intently.
As prescribed by Leschetizky, “the brain must guide the fingers, not the fingers the brain.” This statement is a wise one. Playing the piano requires a lot of brain power, and if you think of what you want to do and then reflect on how you did it, I think, will be beneficial in the end for any pianist.
I think Leschetizky’s statement “for accuracy without expression isn’t worth that” is an important one. So often, I think pianists are expected to be machines and consistently play perfectly. But, I think an audience would be more moved by a performance filled with emotion and expression, and the occasional wrong not, as opposed to a dry, yet perfect performance.
I like how Leschetizky does not believe in one prescribed method for teaching each piece or individual students. The analogy that he is a physician and his students are his patients which he has to prescribe different remedies for their musical ailments is a good one. No student learns in the same manner, and requires different types of instruction.
The order of fingers with regards to strength in the Bree method is interesting. While I think, depending on the student, the strength of the thumb, second, and third fingers are somewhat interchangeable, I am not sure if I agree that the fifth finger is stronger than the second.
I also like this idea “the brain must guide the fingers, not the fingers the brain.” Unfortunately,I use fingers more than my brain sometimes when I was practicing. I have to fix it.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your experiences with listening to recordings of yourself. It can be hard to listen objectively when there are so many things to think about while playing. Sometimes I think the set-up can get in the way; practicing with the music stand down often reveals many weaknesses for me.
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