PianoTechnique.net

When our awareness of our bodies in movement is based on refined kinesthesia and a good body map, our conception of the music-the sound-will fuse with our con­ception of our physical movement that produces the music. Putting the point slightly differently: when we conceive a musical result, that conception will instantly translate into a kinesthetic awareness of the movement that brings about the result. Our musical con­ception will be realized, in sound, through movement. Refining and deepening our musical ideas will elicit ever more refined and subtle movement. Practicing will become a matter of conceiving a sound, then discovering and practicing the move­ments that produce the sound. This uniting of musical and kinesthetic imagination depends on developing kinesthesia, a sense of embodiment, and a good body map, but thinking in these terms from the outset will help you develop those things. As you progress along this path, the musical imagi­nation and the kinesthetic imagination can feed on each other, assisting each other to higher and higher levels.Brainwork

Some people think of playing the piano as mainly a physical skill. Others insist that it must come from the heart and the emo­tions. In fact, it is both, and more besides. Playing the piano is one of the most com­plex of human activities. Our brains have several distinct functional areas. There is the cognitive function, which is the process of knowing and remembering; the sensory function, which governs sensation including kinesthesia; the motor function, which controls movement; and the emo­tional function, which relates to feelings. Some activities may use just one of these functions, but all of them are combined in piano playing. The brain must coordinate them, bringing them together, simultane­ously, when we play. Playing the piano is brainwork, and pianists need to be con­stantly aware of the different functional areas of the brain they call on in their playing. Not just in a general way, but in specific ways, all the time. If I don’t do that, I’ll just be playing notes - that is, I’ll be treating piano playing as a merely physical skill, which would be to trivialize it. I must learn to relate the emotional content of the music, at every moment, to my physical kinesthetic sensations and the movements of my body that produce music from the piano. I must map emotion as sensation and movement.