Recently I rehomed an abandoned sheet music book that had been lying around on a shelf for ages – an old Henle Urtext edition of some Schubert piano pieces. It was clearly lonely and wanting a new master, so I performed the honours and took care of it. On a more serious chord, I was […]
Part 3: Concluding thoughts and my current situation Overall, my ‘injury’ was for the better. Not only was it pretty inevitable, given how much I was playing unwittingly with a tense approach, but it was the slap in the face that I needed to gain freedom of playing to prevent further excessive tension and vastly […]
Part 2: Finding lasting help After a Christmas of continually tense piano playing, I remembered the Alexander Technique. My German grandmother is an Alexander teacher, and when I stayed with her in the summer we did work together to help with my playing. However I wanted more focus directly on the approach to playing piano […]
I did. And this is how I changed my approach to piano for the better. Part 1: Feeling the tension and trying to get help Two years ago, around when doing my Grade 8 exam, I began feeling slight stiffness and uncomfortableness in my arms. Luckily I finished the exam before it got worse, but […]
György Cziffra was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist in the 20th century who delighted, astounded, staggered and moved many, yet also shocked, horrified and outraged many with his unique interpretations.
György Cziffra was born on 5 November 1921 in a poverty-stricken town called Angel Court in […]