Manhattan School Faculty, Daniel Epstein's Piano Lesson

[Skenderbej]

he is showing off.. also a good student dont need explanations like. now piano is coming or forte is coming..... or diminuento...etc etc... he/she should already know the score. and one more thing. she is lacking of technique. fix that first then the sound. that's what make famous Russian School. no one luck of technique. have fun trying to play by paying money. we wont see you in future for sure. :)

[sotopagla]

Just came across cool piano learning device in Gizmag Google “gizmag pianomaestro”

[sposalizio1]

To teach music is fantastic!!!!

[musicy88]

I LOVE THIS WORK!

[predoje]

Are there non asian students on Julliard?

[TheLittlegrenade]

cool

[PointBlankNZ]

Practicing musicians / learners, if you could fill out my easy 4 question survey for my research project it would be much appreciated. The link is in the info of my video called practicing musicians thanks.

[348Frate]

Jerome Lowenthal is a much better teacher this this goof that never lets her play...how the hell can she hear herself....So glad I had jerome and veda!

[CRSaprissa7]

@348Frate You obviously know nothing about teaching music. The point is that she plays until he hears something that can be improved, and then he tells her how to do it. How will she learn if she plays it through from beginning to end and gets no feedback?

[348Frate]

"you obviously dont know nothing about teaching music"? Did I say to play it through from beginning to end?

You telling me this just proves that you're just a standard stereotypical holier than thou...get over yourself...I just stated my opinion.=) You obvisouly know nothing about being open minded.

If you want to have a conversation about a topic leave out the personal attacks. I can be twice as rude as you thanks. =)

[CRSaprissa7]

@348Frate You did well to mention my personal attacks and how unfair they were, but left out the part why you know so well how to teach. This is how all teachers teach in upper levels of piano. You complained about his methods, which are very good ones, and therefore exposed your inexperience. It is for this reason that I used your so called "personal attacks"

[348Frate]

I'm not arguing with your ad hominem rhetoric.."exposed my inexperience"? quite the least, thank you=). Unless you have attained a masters credential as I from Juilliard, than keep your "personal attacks" to yourself. =) Have a nice day. Please don't waste anymore of my time.

[CRSaprissa7]

@348Frate I have not recieved a master's credential from Juilliard. I do, however, study piano with a Juilliard professor and he teaches very similarly to this man.

[skryabyn]

It would be nice if the teacher would listen to her at the parts he wanted to hear instead of singing over her...

[fortune32]

welcome tendinitis..with that left hand position...

[decus69]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[nlevitin]

what is this piece?

[MrDuffy]

Schumann, Fantasia op.17

[bigobriener]

that sounds so so so cool

[freddyrabbitfoot]

thx. great piano lesson !!

[ObeeLektro]

Yes thats all wonderful explanations on interpretation,but how can the student over come this problems if she is so cramp t technically. Look at her hands the shape of her fingers and wrists. She lacks the technical gestures and motion to produce such saddle tones. Compare the Teachers hands to the student and listen to the difference in quality of sound the Teacher produces and the student. His is rich hers is meek. She needs help on the technical level to free up to obtain this kind of nuance.

[mrpossibilities]

Well, it is my opinion that the technical problems are something that the student will have to continuously keep working on so that he/she can one day achieve sufficient technique to express themselves clearly. I think it's remarkable that the teacher isn't focusing so much on the mere technical aspects (which I'm sure he addresses at their given time) but focuses more on the emotional quality of the music and what it should sound like, as seen from the outside, in its totality

[ifreshwater]

@ObeeLektro That's not his job. She needs to deal with her technique on her own time. There are plenty of books and videos about doing this.

[ObeeLektro]

@ifreshwater I am sorry to say this, but your comment exposes lack of understanding of what Piano technique is. Books are the least effective medium to teach proper piano technique. Videos become useful only when you have some basic understanding of kinetic alignment of your body and a range of movements that underly the Piano Technique. Most teachers do not understand technique because they have learned to play the piano at an early age. This is why so many pianist still suffer injuries. Cheers

[ifreshwater]

@ObeeLektro Where is your proof for this statement (books being the least effective)? If you are a committed player, then you will work on it as much as you can. You will look into what you need to to learn better how to play. They are not effective if you are not motivated. This is true. But if you're motivated, and you read into it and simply watch your instructors hands/arms/body while he/she is playing, then you should be able to figure it out fairly well. Cheers mate.

[ObeeLektro]

@ifreshwater To continue this debate, let me ask you a simple question. Please give a concise definition of what Piano Technique is? I have spent last 17 years researching, studying and practically incorporating it to my Piano playing.  Also, since you have so eloquently described, how by just watching your teacher you can figure out what ever technique you need. Please give me at least one example of what would that be. Than describe how these observation would benefit your piano technique.

[ifreshwater]

@ObeeLektro Okay, I'll do that to the best of my knowledge. Piano technique is the physical mechanism of how to play the piano (i.e. how to move/position each part of your body). From watching my teacher play (and later trying for myself), I realized that when crossing over with the thumb it is easier to lift your wrist as you ascend/descend until you use your thumb at which point you lower your wrist so as to better allow your remaining fingers access to the next notes in the sequence.

[ifreshwater]

@ifreshwater Sorry, I have a minor addition/change to my definition. Piano technique is how to move/position each part of the body in order to effectively enhance ones ability (i.e. efficiency of movement, enhancement of speed/dexterity, etc.). Another thing I have learned watching my teacher is pushing with your fingers (almost as if they're jumping) when making large leaps with the hand such as in Rachmaninov Op. 23 No. 5.

[ifreshwater]

@ifreshwater I realized that there is much more to technique than what I have talked about, but if you pay attention to your body as you play and try new ways to do things you will start to learn what works for you. Let's stop this debate. What I'm really trying to say is simply that at this level, she should not need help with technique. She should have been taught proper technique as a child.

[ObeeLektro]

@ifreshwater Next problem sometimes the movements are so saddle that things might appear correct to your eyes, and you can only detect a problem by kinetic recognition or difference in sound production. So explain to me how someone who knows nothing, or very little, or even quite a bit about technique can figure out all this things out, just by reading a book, or watching their teacher.

[ifreshwater]

@ObeeLektro How, then, are you to be taught? Or to teach it? You can't use words to describe it (if a book can't do it then spoken word certainly can't). You can't use your eyes to learn it (if your eyes can't catch the subtle movements you can't really watch it). How are you meant to know how each movement effects the sound production knowing little to nothing of technique? You watch your teacher, and you read.

[ifreshwater]

@ObeeLektro What is the difference between being told something and reading it? And the difference between being showed something by the teacher and simply watching them do it while they play? There isn't any difference if you're looking at what you need to look at. The book tells you what you need to learn and it gives you a description. Then, you go to a lesson and watch for those things when your teacher is playing. Then you try to replicate it.

[ifreshwater]

@ObeeLektro How is that different than being told what to do other than you get a far deeper and broader understanding of technique. You learn more than just, "This is what you do." You learn, "This is what you do and this is why you do it." I understand that some teachers do a better job with teaching why things are done than others. But if you're not being taught what you need, then you need to figure it out yourself.

[ObeeLektro]

@ifreshwater The positioning of your legs on the floor, proper alignment of your shoulders elbows, proper posture of your lower and upper back with different weight displacement for natural movements and not to forget a proper breathing through out the whole process.

[ObeeLektro]

@ifreshwater The positioning of your legs on the floor, proper alignment of your shoulders elbows, proper posture of your lower and upper back with different weight displacement for fluidity and effortless connection to the sequence of different movements necessary to play the whole work, and not to forget to keep your natural breathing process from beginning to an end of the piece.

[ObeeLektro]

@ifreshwater See how much effort it took you to describe supposedly such simple questions. You had to add corrections in your descriptions which are very basic in their context, and I can easily divulge with you into much more detailed discussion of how to properly move not only your hands, wrist, fingers, but also forearm, arm, upper and lower body movements, with different combinations of shapes, proportions, and speeds while you execute this technical movements.