Everything that is said here is true and so, vital for anyone wishing to play the piano well. What a valuable presentation.

These videos are incredibly insightful and well put together! Thank you so much for this series!

Very good, but with questions towards the end. Unfortunately, Chopin cannot answer himself. Total relaxation of body and mind - yes - it is the basis for skillful action, not only at the piano. To develop a skill, it goes in cycles of rest (body and mind) and focused repeated action. Moving up the stair steps -- one vertical, the other horizontal, action and rest.

this is amazing, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you a lot! I'm keeping an eye out for your content. Really important stuff!

Extremely interesting video . Thank you !

Awesome thanks

Thank you so much ! 😍😍🥰🥰

Merci beaucoup for this.

Que felicidade encontrar esse canal. Excelente conteúdo ❤. Que venham vários vídeos 🎉

I thank you to share your knowledge, this will help me to improve in my piano playing !

Excellent, learning and keep this way of playing with all body completely relaxed makes real difference. The distance from the keyboard, the height of the seat, the straigth back, the arms, the wrist, don't open the elbows, the right position of the hands, all together theese apparently not important things makes keyboard playing to another level. Are good even for an advanced player. Thank you!

I stumbled upon this tonight whilst nursing the beginning of a migraine. MIND BLOWN (and not from the migraine!). I am currently 58 years old. Took classical lessons from age 6 to 16 (and then from 16 onward began playing other types like jazz, rock, country, etc.). I am now focusing purely on hymns of God and my own compositions, both on solo piano. I am hoping that by concentrating on what is being taught here, that I can basically continue to play as long as possible without finger, hand, back pain, etc. My two absolute favorite composers when I was receiving classical training were: 1. Chopin. 2. Debussy. I was TOTALLY taught wrong by focusing on the C major scale and having to have curved fingers AT ALL TIMES (my first teacher would rap my knuckles with a pencil if they weren't curved). I've forgiven him! He just didn't know! Anyway...thank you SO much for taking the time to put all of this together. Dare I say I will possibly be grabbing some Chopin exercises and giving them a go (will be fun after all these years!). Can't WAIT to try some of these ideas! Also...I will be focusing on my posture and sitting position. As a software developer, I have been indoctrinated (in a good way) to always sit as ergonomically as possible...so that's a good start! Thanks again!

This is gold! Make more of these please

I LOVE it that 8:18 you prefer to Chopin as "the Master". Indeed he is the TRUE master of the piano. Awesome content!

Thank you very great presentation! I’ve really noticed Horowitz posture and how much is done without much body movements except on the really huge octaves chords hands always very close to keys body slightly lean forward just like your illustrations!

I'm fascinated by these videos. I took lessons from age 10 to 19 and then played causally throughout my 20s as I focused on school and work, but I am now trying to reclaim and improve my piano skills. I am hoping to take lessons again, but in the meantime I am internalizing the insights in these videos.

Thank you for providing such priceless lessons, and we will support and encourage you.

Some of this is simply intuitive. I started piano lessons when I was 8 years old. I had a freakishly strong and flexible back but no other upper-body muscle to speak of. Although I could already play a few things before lessons, I started at "the beginning" just like anyone. I don't recall ever straining for a note or having body tension [like I do now!] I did naturally understand that the fingertip does the work, and everything flows backward from there. My teacher did not teach me this. I thought of this as "having a good relationship to the key." No one taught me how to connect the notes together, I just understood from the start. I heard others "playing" piano and would wonder what on earth that noise was, only to read the title on the page when they were done and wonder how they could find all the right notes an still not make music... One of my Dad's friends and his wife heard me play {a rarity} and said, "Oh you play from the heart!" I wondered where else could it come from! Sadly, performing was just far too stressful and unbearable. I quit lessons at 10 years old. [Don't be sad, I wasn't really that good.] I do APPRECIATE music tremendously, though. It is a gift that proves that God loves us all, always. [Sorry, I'm a long-winded INFJ...]

Maravilloso❤

Delightful!

Ver knowledgeable.

Thank you

Very interesting video.

Thanks for these videos. Personally I find the word ‘relaxation’ is quite misleading when talking about piano technique, as if we were totally relaxed we would fall off the piano bench. Telling someone to relax on top of poor posture can make things worse such as broken fulcrums. Even when standing up we need a certain degree of appropriate ‘muscle tone’ so we stay vertical and not collapse. Bones stack up to support us sit comfortably but muscles are for moving. Rather than thinking ‘relaxation’, I’ve found it more helpful to think of our muscles as staying ‘released’ and well ‘toned’, especially the forearm/hand/finger unit. This level of muscle tone is the same as when doing every day activities we don’t think too much about, for example, brushing our teeth.

Thank you for all the 💎. Knowledge is power. And also, glad piano came a bit natural and practice times are always fun i get angry if it’s interrupted. Ofcourse in a mature fashion.

Thank you! How many more videos do you plan to record in the future? Is this method going to be only about mechanics of playing or are you also going to talk about Chopin's approach to playing his pieces? I've heard that his students told he knew how to present his complex pieces in quite simple terms.

How you approach a note is how it will sound. Dynamics are essentially a question of sonority, that the sound should carry.

Your voice gives me Liam Neeson vibes from Taken. Great series. Thanks for you work!!

thankyou for you kind sharing , this is really inspiring and made me more concentrating on the training of finger muscles and posture afterwards , the power while playing the piece really increased a lot , thankyou again 😉 Profeesor , I got a question on how to train my second , third and fourth finger much more indepently ? :(

I don't even play piano...yet, this stuff translates to classical guitar. Every finger has a personality, it is better to understand this rather than conform them.

the video animation implies that the third finger is pressing g# but the sound is an a# (great video just stuck out to me when watching)

チャンネル登録しました。また投稿楽しみにしています。

Mon examen de piano est dans 4 jours. Psychologiquement cette vidéo m'a aidé, merci beaucoup ❤️❤️

Wonderful video. Wonder if you have/know some books recommendation to apply/learn this technic. That would be awesome ❤

i checked, and i think i have the identical hand of chopin, same posture , everything, and i also pick the note with the thumb with half-nail ,i saw all your videos and i checked, i hope to remain in history as he did

Me too, my problem was the weakness to play piano. I don't play anymore because I've CMT1a

Thanks for the videos . I believe the strength of the body is definitely play an important part of playing the piano . All great pianists have very strong and thick hands and fingers . Am I wrong ?

hello! i just wanted to say that i lvoe your videos and they cary some very valubale information ! but, can you please include some subtitles as well because i have some hard time understanding every word you're saying! with all due respect. thank you. keep up this great work.

Amazing video, but please consider putting subtitles to reach more people, it doesn't need to be in multiple languages, but providing an English subtitle will help many viewers

❤❤❤❤

May I ask what the short excerpt at the start is from? It sounds like a polish song.

I wonder if Hanon wrote a disclaimer as a preface to his book of exercises?

Very interesting! I was taught in a way that emphasized arm weight, but that might be because modern pianios might be heavier than the kind Chopin used?

What isn´t mentioned is - build. Such a thing as "rotator cuff syndrome" - a too tight rotator cuff (four strong, short muscles, that controls the shoulder joint movement) is not at all unusual and can make it very painful to keep hands parallel to keys. Today it is successfully solved by removing a bit of the knuckles in the joint.

Is this also economy of motion? Placing the intensity into the fingers instead of body movement? If he had little energy from cystic fibrosis this makes sense.

the floating head - all hail

What is the name of the beautiful song playing in the beginning?

Can anyone tell the name of that opera music in intro ? Please

Since a lot of this is based around anatomical and physiological terms, I'm wondering if someone could help me understand in anatomical terminology... which exact joint and muscle action(s) are involved in "letting the elbows hang free" ? I'm figuring upper traps needs to be completely relaxed to let the scapula depress... but what else? Are biceps and triceps and other elbow/shoulder muscles completely relaxed? Do any of them need to have active contraction to achieve this cue of elbow position? And with "elbows close to the body at all times" - does this mean actively adducting and rotating the GH joint to achieve this? TIA!

I have scoliosis 12°, can you answer what is the implication of that in piano?

Are there any piano teachers who teach this method? I injured both my arms from playing and I wish I was taught this method

Hello Sir. This information is worthy of a book publication. Please keep us in the loop if this will be the case. Thank you

great french accent !

Alexander technique?

We should address the uncomfortable shape of the "standard" piano keys as well.

How does this method work on modern instruments? Chopin's piano was different than the modern concert grand piano.

Should you still rely on the weight of the arm when playing chords? I find it awkward.

If I allow my elbow to hang at my side, I cannot play at the outer edges efficiently. I need to lean at least a little.

One part that isn't clear: you talk about how important hip movement is, but a few minutes later you give this testimony of someone saying Chopin would be perfectly immobile at all times. So which is the right way?

Wonderful videos. Two questions: do you have the ability to edit the captions? Wow often, Chopin is being misinterpreted as Japan, and there's a couple of other errors. Secondly, this is an excellent approach, but as pointed out: we should be teaching children to use the B major scale as the basic fundamental. Do you have an approach that's more simplified for children? My 8 year old started playing 6 months ago and always fears using the black keys (a fact I'm sure her piano teacher will address eventually, but it seems to run contrary to Chopin's method of preferencing and prioritising the black key finger positions)

Wonderful! Really speaks to me as I am having some pains a bit all over...Mid Back and tip of fingers especially. Need to rework my technique but its hard to get good information. Any suggestions for resources that go deeper into his method? (Books, videos, teachers, etc). Thank you and please keep up the great work!

103301

Why are you a head floating in a dark space? Super creepy. But remarkable insight, very helpful!

😆😆😆🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻

Sheesh that disclaimer in the beginning is so serious. It's just a piano!!! I doubt my 100$ cheap Casio digital piano is going to ruin my body if I play an hour a day.

@JianCai_Beeth