Customer Reviews

What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is simply the best book presently on the market for understanding and acquiring the principles of healthful, injury-preventive keyboard technique. Although nothing substitutes for hands-on training with a knowledgable teacher, this book will be remarkably helpful to the injuried or inquiring keyboardist. It is clear, succinct, and written in accessible, non-tedious language. Informative illustrations abound. The emphasis on technique as a coordination of the whole body with the instrument and the sound biomechanical information throughout are a welcomed relief from the hundreds of historically confusing and dense writings on technique. Technique is a highly complex, subtle physical activity which must be learned by understanding and sensing how the body mechanism works best. Thomas Mark and supplementary authors Gary and Miles, supported by the superb work of Barbara and Bill Conable in Body Mapping and Alexander Technique, have made a truly laudable contribution to the keyboard profession with this book.

Tom Mark's book is brilliant. It is easy to read and is entirely clear and concise. I am a pianist, piano teacher, and certified Andover Educator and I am thrilled to have such a tool at my disposal. I tell every pianist who comes to me with any kind of movement-based issue to read this book first. I find myself continually rereading it and quoting from it in my teaching. It is the kind of source from which one can gain new insights with each reading. In fact, it is so user-friendly that many people need very little help from me once they have read the book and worked with the ideas on their own.

I have found that after studying this material and making these concepts my own, I have been able to communicate and demonstrate these ideas to my students, regardless of their age or level. It has revolutionized my teaching and playing, and the playing of my students as well.

This book is so well researched and written it should come with a satisfaction guarantee. It's just that good!

The information contained in this book is extremely valuable for ALL musicians (even flute players, like me!). My approach to playing my instrument has changed forever. I enjoy practicing and performing more than ever before, and I feel a lot more confident as a musician.

Learning the practical human anatomy involved in playing my instrument has made movement easier and more enjoyable. I spent many years as a music major feeling extremely limited in my technique (especially my finger technique). Practicing Taffanel Gaubert finger exercises for an hour each day was doing nothing for me except causing a lot of emotional and physical pain. This book showed me how to use my fingers, and whole arm structure, in a more mechanically advantageous way. My scales, or any technical passage that I might encounter in a piece of literature, are faster, more even, and sooooo much easier to play.

The information from this book also made my required group piano class at the University of Northern Iowa a lot easier to get through:) I can't imagine being a piano major or professor and not having this knowledge. The information in this book is what every piano professor needs to be teaching in piano pedagogy. This information needs to become standard knowledge for all musicians--especially those who intend to make music as a living.

I cannot say enough about this book. If you're frustrated with your technical abilities, if you play in pain, if you want to be a responsible teacher....buy this book.

Although I am a cellist rather than a pianist, the author's delivery of practical information makes this manual a must-read, must-have book on every music teacher's shelf. As a cellist, the information Mark offers on the structure of the legs was especially valuable to me, as was his discussion of breathing.

My goal as a teacher of adolescent string players is to prevent performance injuries in my students before they ever happen. Too often, students quit playing because "something hurts." By having a clear idea of how the body works as a structure, how bones and joints are designed to move and how they are NOT designed to move, teachers can offer their students an opportunity to learn to play pain-free forever. I wish for my students to develop a life-long love of their own performance, whether they choose to be professional musicians or amateurs in a local community orchestra or string quartet. This book enables me to understand my own structure and, in turn, to offer that information to my students.

While the original book on which this work is based, Barbara Conable's "What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body," may be more user-friendly for kinesthetic learners, especially younger students, thanks to its clear graphics and limited text, older students and teachers may find the Mark book more appropriate with its indepth explanations of experiential anatomy. I refer to both books frequently in my day-to-day teaching.

I'm seeking a way to return safely to piano after recovering from bi-lateral tendonitis. Several approaches stand out: Taubman Institute, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, and body mapping. I want an approach that is safe and effective, specific to piano, and economical (everything else being equal). Mark's book is my first purchase: the book is piano-specific, exceedingly cheap relative to the full $800.00 Taubman 10 DVD set, and sufficiently packed with accurate anatomy to impress my occupational therapist (hand specialist w/ Ph.D.). So far, so good . . .

Now for the fine print: the book is 90% anatomy, not piano playing. There are isolated pointers based on anatomical facts, but the emphasis is, "Musician, heal thyself." The methodology is for the musician to learn their body, listen to their body, trust their body, obey their body. I'm looking for a recipe book (it is safe and effective to play scales like this, arpeggios like this, reach with your thumb like this, . . .), not a book about how to grow my own ingredients.

This book has merit and value, and I'm glad I bought it, but it is not enough by itself to get me back in the saddle. Looks like I have some Taubman videos in my future.

I am a professional pianist and teacher. I have found that my students have immediate and positive results from the approach presented in this wonderful book.

Nice one!

I got interested in this book because an acquaintance of mine has been traveling to Portland for lessons and workshops with Mr. Mark, and the resulting improvement in my friend's piano playing has been striking.

I was able to make several improvements in my own approach to the piano almost immediately, based only on Mr. Mark's presentation in this book, which is both clear and detailed (the book is also attractively bound and well laid out.). I also learned a bit about the Alexander approach.

This is not a book on piano technique, but there is valuable technical information here, and the anatomical information Mark provides is directly relevant to technique. I expect it will help one learn any technique that is soundly based on anatomy. I followed this book with Barbara Lister-Sink's video on piano technique, Freeing the Caged Bird, and I found that the two approaches go together beautifully (Lister-Sink apparently also has an background in Alexander work).

I am immensely grateful for this book. It was exactly what I needed to overcome various painful problems I was having at the keyboard, and I imagine would be similarly helpful to all the people who believe they have carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis at their computer keyboards as well. Besides making the book available to my fellow music-lovers and students, I also make a point of telling my doctors about it. Have seldom underlined, dog-eared and added stars to a book as much as this one.
Better than medicine or surgery, if, like me, it happens to be exactly what you need, too.

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in that the information in this book is indispensable, and I'm ordering multiple copies for my piano playing friends. I'm a senior college piano performance major, had a very rough time with tendinitis (I almost changed majors) and this book had the information I needed to get better that I was unable to find from several physical therapists, a hand surgeon and two excellent teachers. For those who say it doesn't say anything about technique: the information here gives you what you need so you can make your technique really work.

It has made me play better, easier, and it is easier to understand what my existing teacher tries to get me to do. It also gives you a better understanding of the body that will help you as a teacher. If you take the playing the piano seriously in any way, BUY THIS BOOK. Unless you have a senior or graduate recital in a week it will be worth exchanging a few hours of your practice time to read this. From a money standpoint, I think it would be impossible to get even close to this kind of information out of $25 worth of lessons!

This guy should receive an award for finally taking all the current knowledge of the body, and using it to correct piano technique. I've seen alot of technique books that are aimed at certain goals (scales, fast leaps, etc), but this book is more like a general baseline that everything else follows from. Great illustrations, which are crucial for actually internalizing this knowledge about the body and transferring it to the keyboard. Some topics covered: bench height, arm positioning, finger usage, spine and posture, sitting correctly, standing correctly. It will change your playing!