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@ Parman - Activate OP_GFY now!!
2025-04-24 18:12:51
Piano technique debunked by Parman, episode #1...
There is no such technique of "arm weight" that any expert pianist actually uses, but it is standard teaching. Like traditional economics, it is wrong, and passed down.
The reason it is propagated, I believe, is because the very best pianists throughout time knew "nothing" about physics and biomechanics, and to them, the arm does actually "feel heavy" and is doing something.
And non-gifted yet interested pianists, some who are gifted at physics and trained in anatomy and biology, eh-hem, well, who are they to question hundreds of years of teaching? Fuck that, I'm question it like everything else.
Weight is a FORCE, created by gravity, and on Earth, results in acceleration of any mass in free fall at 9.8 m per sec per sec.
If arm weight produced tone, the only way to get different volumes is to drop the arm towards the keys from different heights to result in different speeds of key descent...
which...
is...
RIDICULOUS.
What actually is happening, is that the arm is pushing down on the keys, supported by the fingers (so the hand doesn't completely collapse).
The push down happens by
1) lengthening the arm (uncoiling of joints), which is actually a push forwards AND down
2) and by flexing at the shoulder joint, which is a pull down AND backwards.
This is done alternatively, push and pull, but each has a down vector component, allowing constant down force without the joints running out of leverage (ie when pulling, the arm can "reload", or compress, then when its turn comes it has "room" to push -- constant pushing is not possible. Conversely when pushing the arm moves forward at the shoulder joint giving room for the shoulder to pull back when its turn comes).
This push and pull action while playing, if exaggerated, and if the piano stool were on wheels, would result in the chair rolling back and forth as one plays.
That muscular force is used, not gravity, is actually very advantageous, since instead of applying a constant weight and acceleration, you can modify the force using your muscles, at will (varying volume). It's like being able to drop the arm but dial gravity as required.
What's happening at the hand is very different. It is "constantly" experiencing a downward force which causes the hand to splay open. It must be balanced by the precise correct level of counterforce which is flexion of the fingers or closing the hand, such that it results in the plane of the hand remaining stable and mostly horizontal, and not flapping about wildly.
Parman's Piano Lessons for Bitcoiners only soon.