(Insert Muppet Arms Here)

Well, here we are, folks. After chronicling hundreds of years of piano technique, we finally arrive at the people who advocated arm weight, and something closer to our style of playing. Leave it to the late romantics, with all their wives and concubines to finally start to shake things up.

First, however, we have the relatively novel idea of hand gymnastics, the exact execution of which I am still foggy on. Depending on the nature of the exercises, it strikes me that they might not be such a terrible idea; athletes exercise their bodies in other ways than just their own particular sport, so why shouldn't we exercise our hands away from the piano? I think, however, that with today's lifestyle of texting and typing at all hours of the day and night, our hands may occasionally be more in need of an hour's break than anything else.

We move on, then, to Mason and his exercises for two fingers. I found these interesting, and while I would most likely have to work with them to decide whether they're really worthwhile, it occurred to me that since the two-note slur is the smallest unit in music, moving from one finger to the next could be called the smallest musical action. If this be the case, then why not make sure that our playing with only two fingers is absolutely solid?

Ludwig Deppe was the most fascinating discovery in this week's reading. The description of his "feather light hand" technique and the usage of the arm muscles was surprisingly clear. Perhaps because Deppe was one of the first to actually advocate this style of playing, he had to be extremely clear, but we who use arm weight in our playing may do well to learn to articulate our style as well as he did.

The inclusion of a chapter dedicated to Leschetizky baffled me slightly. He did not seem to contribute much to the advancement of technique, and wrote no method himself. I suppose it was his many students who merited him special attention, and here we have a glimpse of his genius. Leschetizky's claim that the technique and "method" should be suited for and tailored to the individual student was brilliant. While there are certain principles that apply to all technique, everyone's hand size, physique and temperament are different. Because of this, suiting the technique and style to the student is vital. Of course, this leaves more work for the students, since only they can tell exactly what works with their own bodies, but then, independent thought is a good thing on occasion, right?