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The videos in this youtube user's page are about the closest I have seen to a "pure finger technique".

http://www.youtube.com/user/tizianopoli

Any other examples?

Thanks,
ocd

What is "pure finger technique"?

I guess it means letting the fingers do all the work without the help of arm weight, forearm rotation, and other mechanisms. Check out his "Happy Fingers" device for exercising the fingers (on his webpage tecnicapianistica .) I suppose it can either maim you (most likely) or improve your finger dexterity. He does have impressive technique though.

How else could you play it?

For comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuA2Vh-oEhw&feature=related

Considering his age and the fact that he was famous for not practicing as hard as most pianists, I'd say this makes quite a contrast.

"tizianopoli" seems to be solid technically, but his many hesitations are very annoying. His hands do somehow look just a tiny bit stiff compared to videos of many fine pianists.

Sorry, can't see the difference technique wise.

Both have a solid technique and play with normal curving of fingers. Rubinstein has more lofty gestures - "hitting the keys from above, not playing into the keys" - but still masters to control sound volume, accents etc.

Would be interesting to see how Horowitz with his straigt fingers plays this piece.

That's because you can\'t tell anything by watching performances on Youtube .

Pure finger technique is pure finger technique whether curved, curled or flat.

You have to train your fingers by exercising and playing pieces. No philisophy or school can eliminate this need. It is absurd thinking you would manage wihtout finger dexterity or fine touch sensitivity, only using arm weight, shoulder and elbow rotations, relaxed wrists and wagging the whole body.

Finger technique is the base of piano playing.

On You Tube you can watch different playing styles and compare it with the music produced,
althoug the recording are sometimes far from perfect. You will in the long run learn that different ways of playing can cause pleasant music.

But you cannot feel what the pianist feels - experience his possible strains and pains. That is true.

At the end of the day, it is not curved or straight fingers that matters, but what you manage to produce with the technique you have developed.

Even with an unorthodox technique you may be able to control your playing, and then it is up to your interpretation and padal use etc how it will sound.

It is all about hitting the right key at the right moment with the right force (or speed, which is a result of the force and inertia).

- - - - -

The Queen of keyboard instruments says: "Play with your fingers and feet, don't forget using your brain"

Could anyone point to any other examples of what could be called "pure finger technique"?

Thanks,
ocd

I don't get it. His technique looks like it has a perfectly natural blend of fingers, hand, and arm to me, guided by the nature of the passage he's playing.

First off, you should define what you mean by "pure finger technique." If oyu mean a technique just using fingers - not wrist, forearm, etc. - then the example you posted doesn't really apply.

As I wrote in the initial post for this thread, the youtube video pointed at was the "closest" I could find to a "pure finger technique": a technique that minimizes the contribution of wrist, forearm rotation etc. If you know of a better example, please point it out.

Thanks,
ocd

Ok, thanks for defining what you meant. i don't agree though. He does use wrist, forearm, arm, etc. - as well as fingers.

I am puzzled by your disagreement. There is nothing to agree or disagree on. The video is the closest I have found. It is like saying that you disagree that I like coffee.

ocd

Let me try again. You said that this video is the closest you found to pure finger technique. A reasonable inference I can make about that statement is that you think the video is an example of what you call "pure finger technique."
I don't think it is an example of "pure finger technique" as you described it, so I don't agree.

You could show me a glass of orange juice, and say "this is the best coffee I've ever had." Since what you showed me isn't coffee, I would have to disagree.

It is a matter of degree, not absolutes. (I say: this is the strongest coffee I have yet tasted. You say: that coffee should not even be called strong.) Do you have a better example of something you would call "finger technique"?

ocd

These discussions always seem to deteriorate into semantics. :rolleyes:

Anyway, here's his website: http://www.tecnicapianistica.com/happy%20fingers/happy%20fingers.html

Interesting looking contraption.

No, but then I'm not really looking for one either.