Alan Fraser

famous Canadian pianist Alan Fraser has written a book about piano technique. I am very interested in that, but i can't find anywhere book in pdf --free book, because i am without money. Anybody knows something about this book : "The craft of piano playing" ??? Thanks in advance

danzack wrote:famous Canadian pianist Alan Fraser has written a book about piano technique. I am very interested in that, but i can't find anywhere book in pdf --free book, because i am without money. Anybody knows something about this book : "The craft of piano playing" ??? Thanks in advance

Here you are ..
But not a .PDF version ..

same as the book but written in a Blog

Here you are ..
But not a .PDF version ..

same as the book but written in a Blog Very Happy
..:: The Most Beautiful Thing in the World is the World Itself ::..

here you are.............. ???????????!!!!!!!!???????????

where is it ????????

danzack wrote:here you are.............. ???????????!!!!!!!!???????????

where is it ????????

Ooooooooooooh !!!!
Sorry Sorry !!

I forgot to post the links ...

Here is it :
http://www.pianotechnique.net/piano-technique-blog/

I'm Sorry Again

Just a flub Amro.

Posting again here after looking at his webbie.

Anyone seen his DVD? I am considering to buy it.

I have the DVD, and it is very very very good.

Its hard. But its good. I recommend it.

Amro wrote:

danzack wrote:here you are.............. ???????????!!!!!!!!???????????

where is it ????????

Ooooooooooooh !!!!
Sorry Sorry !!

I forgot to post the links ...

Here is it :
http://www.pianotechnique.net/piano-technique-blog/


I'm Sorry Again

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Can anyone make this skeleton finger part more easy to understand for me? Just curious to know what he is saying, yet, the bones in my fingers are still beginners and can not fully comprehend the section of the blog on October 9th called---

"the various guises of skeletality in piano technique"


Maybe if I can just get a handle on this beginning part then I could venture forward to enjoy more of the content on that blog?

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07dwarves

If you can, get the DVD. In the DVD he showes you what you need to do to get skeletality.

My progress in understanding this so far:

Well, I could be wrong, in fact, chances are I am wrong because I am new, but I am curious to know what the possibilities are with this information so today I have come to the temporary conclusion that this guy is saying that sometimes a person can play with the arch of their fingers collapsed.


This is what I feel he might be trying to say specifically in that October 9th entry in his wordpress blog. The section of his blog that I first encounter and it threw me for a loop.

Then I found the following video on youtube.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrO2W-7WaHo

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I am interested in this precisely because this guy seems to be teaching people to unlearn something they have traditionally learned.

I am very interested in how this guys viewpoint of finger position is considered an aberration from standard technique.

Can anyone help to explain it? Please?

Yes, some people can play with a collapsed arch, but they have a very very good technique. Since you are new you probably don't have that. I don't have that. But hes definetly helping me to get it.

You could always go to his forum and ask him yourself, instead of asking us what he means. Hes answered my questions twice.

Yeah, I play sort of like that, I just let my fingers dive into the keys and try to make as little effort ass possible. But to this vide I have to ask myselfe. Are most teachers like this guy?? Using 10 minuts to explane what I would have understood after 15 secunds... ?!

Hehe... Hopefully not

You play sort of like that, but you still just let your fingers dive into the keys with as little effort as possible?

You are either a true piano genius or really really arrogant and ignorant to what this man really teaches. No offence, I just think your statement is really not thought through.

I bet you could learn alot from him. I know I am.

Christian wrote:You play sort of like that, but you still just let your fingers dive into the keys with as little effort as possible?

You are either a true piano genius or really really arrogant and ignorant to what this man really teaches. No offence, I just think your statement is really not thought through.

I bet you could learn alot from him. I know I am.

Well, Im no true piano genious, and neither arrogant and ignorant. But if you read my post one more time, hopefully youll see what im sayin'. Cause I still stand for what I wrote in that comment!!

I NEVER said anything about him not having great experience, theory, knowledge ect....
He is probably sitting on tremendous amount of knowledge and is perhaps one the worlds greatest teachers....

But Im NOT saying anything against that either!!!

I was ONLY saying that he talked more or less about the same thing for 10 full minutes, but he could have shared all that information in 1 minute, cause he goes on, and on and on .... and on.

So please read closer, since your critic on my comment isnt relevant, since I never say that he got poor knowledge or anything ect, and that I couldnt learn anything from him. When did I even closely say somthing that could be interpretated like that?
Of course he could teach me a lot

He is just under-effctive in that video!! Thats my opinion, and meant not to insult anyone by that.

The difference is - now you clearly write what you wanted to say.
You feel hes not teaching effectively in that video. And thats probably (my guess) because he is teaching the student sitting there, and not the person shoting it with his cameraphone.

The other post you wrote can be interpreted as I did, or else I would not bother. This is the internet, ie writing ?! instead of ? can make a huge difference in reading.

Christian wrote:The difference is - now you clearly write what you wanted to say.
You feel hes not teaching effectively in that video. And thats probably (my guess) because he is teaching the student sitting there, and not the person shoting it with his cameraphone.

The other post you wrote can be interpreted as I did, or else I would not bother. This is the internet, ie writing ?! instead of ? can make a huge difference in reading.

Hm, okay. I just want to ad that its important not to only see things from one point of view. What I wrote, and meant is not what you interpretated it as.

One statement: He is taking a Long time to teach one thing in that video!!!

That is my opinion and im not hiding any subdominant messagess in that statement or trying to take away any of his greatness in other ways what so ever

It blinked a message every 1/60 on my monitor "I'm so much better than Christian, and he hates it"

No, it did not. Anyway, I think Christian misunderstood your post, i decrypted it as "I try to play the keys with as little efford as possible" and
"Why waste time and use 10min to explain, what a normal human being can understand within a minute".

Case closed

VictorCS wrote:It blinked a message every 1/60 on my monitor "I'm so much better than Christian, and he hates it"

No, it did not. Anyway, I think Christian misunderstood your post, i decrypted it as "I try to play the keys with as little efford as possible" and
"Why waste time and use 10min to explain, what a normal human being can understand within a minute".

Case closed

Yup You are right

Im glad it took two of you to repeat something I already said in my last post.

I think you missunderstood what I wrote because "what I wrote, and meant is not what you interpretated it as."

Christian wrote:Im glad it took two of you to repeat something I already said in my last post.

I think you missunderstood what I wrote because "what I wrote, and meant is not what you interpretated it as."

Hehe, true Anyways, lets get back on topic shall we

I find what he's teaching extremely fascinating. Thanks for posting the links and video.

No fighting guys! *laughes* We're all adults here. I don't think Thomas was trying to offend you guys Or were you Thomas? *Dark mysterious look*

Admin Andrew wrote:No fighting guys! *laughes* We're all adults here. I don't think Thomas was trying to offend you guys Or were you Thomas? *Dark mysterious look*

Hehe, no. I still cant see my comment as offending in anyway though
Cause I play like he in the video teaches, I cant change that fact. And he is very slow as a teacher in that video. Thats my opinion. But the thing he teaches is of course a great knowledge to get out there

Touchy, Touchy. When I watch the video it does seem like the teacher is taking a long time talking about relaxing the hand. Hey, there is no need to jump down my throat that I must be arrogant or ignorant. Wth?

If we do not like a person's opinion then there is no need to take rash offensive action and strategically steer the attention with remarks about another person's personality. However, just thinking about that, it is also somewhat endearing to see a students feelings get hurt when their favorite teachers method is called into question.


I have seen Thomandy's hands on the videos he has posted and from what I have seen his hands do appear to be very relaxed. More relaxed than normal. So much is the case that I seriously wonder how anyone's hands can look like this with less than a year. Seems very unique; in fact, I have heard him say that he would practice a segment thirteen times perfectly in order to cancel out a mistake. He must have fed a lot of hours of his life into that piano keyboard in order to achieve that.

Yet maybe Thomandy and I do not agree about the encroachment of the corrupt monetary economic system when it comes to the teacher and student relationship because I can remember that I have taken a rigid stance against the type of dependency and parasitism that develops when teachers would rather charge students money for showing the student a song in contrast to actually showing the student how to sight read music sheets. So maybe we disagree, but I love the guy anyway. I mean we are all a community here. There is a spirit of the great piano masters just like the force on Star Wars and it is filling up this entire forum. Don't you guys feel that? Ok maybe I am crazy.

(Rattling my saber now *rattle *rattle )

Right, we are all adults here. Man this is a music forum. I do not see why we can not abstractly philosophize about the evidence both for or against a particular approach to piano lessons without resulting to making generalized prognostications about one another's personality.


Yet, hey Christian, I fully understand how good it feels to defend a person that we have invested ourselves in psychologically and emotionally because if someone started criticizing Andrew, then I would be bitting my lip just as well. It is human nature. The brain can be measured to defend the pathways it has neurologically paved over time.

But we just have to think on a higher level than that and try to adapt our responses to reflect the complex logic that sets us apart as a community with a regard for musical theory.

Look at all of those scientists out there. They actually get bonus points if they prove another scientists theorem is wrong. In fact, science it is about the only field where you get bonus points if you prove yourself wrong.

From what I have read of the the relaxation teachers blog, I like the parts where he has even went so far as to hook himself up to electrodes to measure his finger stress and performance electronically. That is very intense. Also very mathematical. There are also parts that make me feel cautious in regard to his claims; for example, he mentions that a professional pianist that he admires commented that his hands do not do any of things that he talks about in his book. Sometimes he changes his mind about a technique that he put forward too. My memory could be wrong, but this is just what I seem to recall from reading his blog. My only point with this is that nothing is 100% good or 100% bad.

From what I understand, there is an entire school of of thought that believes that no songs or training on the piano should begin until the hand learns to completely relax and then there is a contrasting school that believes the hand relaxation is important but it is not so important as to not begin songs and musical training until it has been mastered.

What I like about both schools is that teachers are trying to figure out what goes on in the students brain. The want to know what causes bad habits and what causes students to jump ship. I personally have met many people who have quit piano lessons and it is a huge tragedy when a student falls by the wayside like that.

Hehe 07dwarves, you have to write a book or something. A fairytale perhaps, and write like you do! Cause you write in a very describing and uncommon way, which is very captivating

Let me know when you get a first draft ready