Herein you will find a guide to wording your posts so as not to give or seek particular technical advice, but to still openly share your experiences (and frustrations, if any!) with mastery of the piano.
Why this guide? Ever since the inception of The Balanced Pianist Forum in November 2005, we have asked people to refrain from giving or seeking particular technical advice. It is one of only a few rules of this forum (others include: be nice, and, refrain from mentioning teachers by name, either positively or negatively). This is because we at The Balanced Pianist have already seen too many negative effects of inappropriate or misunderstood technical advice. We do not want to be the source of more injuries among pianists.
If you are in need of technical help, the very best advice we can give you over the Internet is to find a Taubman teacher. You can get teacher recommendations by going to the contact page of trustworthy sites like
The Balanced Pianist, the
Golandsky Institute, and the
Taubman Institute.
Meanwhile, we have come to understand that the meaning the “no-advice rule” isn’t entirely clear to people. So, read on for clarification of what we mean by “giving or seeking particular technical advice!”
By
technical advice we mean anything relating to how a person's body sits or moves at the piano. This includes both the torso, and the playing hand/arm/finger. Book or recording recommendations, suggestions on different ways of thinking, and even the sharing of particular technical solutions you have found, that are not expressed in advice form, are fine. Bring ‘em on! Ideas to use as EXAMPLES:
“I just found this great book on… I can't recommend it enough!"
“Have you tried thinking about…?”
“I have been working with a new image which is really helping me sort out the different roles of the hand and the fingers...” This is particularly foolproof when the sentence begins with "I" or “my” (experience, playing, etc.).
By
seeking particular technical advice, we mean that a person has a particular problem, writes to the forum with the details, and asks people to comment. Here are some examples to AVOID:
“My thumb hurts when I play big chords. Tell me what's happening!”
“I can play scales at moderato, but I can't play them presto. I hope someone can tell me what my basic problem is."
Both of these "pseudo-posts" are requests for particular technical advice, and will cause a moderator to step in and remind everyone of the no-advice rule. An alternate wording will allow people to weigh in with their own experiences, giving you a variety of options, and not telling you what to do. Ideas to use as EXAMPLES:
“What does everyone think the thumb’s role is in playing large chords?"
“After the rotation and in and out are in place, what do you all think is important for attaining speed in scales?"
By
giving particular technical advice, we mean that people write in and say "try this" or "try that." in response to another person's posts, Here are some examples to AVOID:
“You're probably not rotating toward the thumb for your large chords.”
"Try feeling more of a lateral walking hand and arm in your scales."
These posts, created without first-hand knowledge of the playing of the person being advised, will just be deleted by a moderator. They could be worded otherwise, though, and become part of a general conversation about the issues. Specifically, if they are worded in such a way to share a person's personal experience, they can't go wrong. Ideas to use as EXAMPLES:
“My chord playing changed a lot when I learned about rotating toward the thumb side for all chords."
"I found it tricky for a while, balancing the fundamental elements of the scale -- rotation, in and out, walking hand and arm, and shaping. I kept doing too much or too little of one or the other. I have found a better balance between those elements, and my scales are getting faster."
There are thoughtful examples of respectful and unintrusive responses to requests for advice at
http://balancedpianist.com/forum/index.php?topic=150.0 and
http://balancedpianist.com/forum/index.php?topic=146.0.
As one person points out somewhere on the forum, it may take a little more time to formulate a post with more open-ended wording, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. One thing is clear about this forum: people take time with their posts. The result is that although there are not 100 new posts per day, almost every post is thoughtful and thought-provoking.
We hope this guide helps you, and inspires you to post away!
Author
Logged