Chords for Hal Galper - For Pianists: Quiet Hands

_ _ _ Keyboard Magazine published an article of mine _ _ _ in their _ _ 2011 _ _ _ October issue _ _ _ _ _ _ about forward motion fingering.
_ As part of that article I discussed quiet hands. _ _
_ _ _ _ Because most of the students that come to me, a large number of them anyway,
seem to think that such a thing as jazz technique.
_ And they overplay the instrument, they use excessive body motion,
_ sometimes they even have a stance, you know, an attitude towards the piano.
_ _ And it is a challenge for me to _ quiet them down _ physically.
_ _ Because what they're doing is using _ large muscles to play an instrument that actually requires very fine muscles. _ _ _
And we are athletes of the fine muscles, not large ones.
And the problem with large muscle _ association with playing _ _ is that it makes your touch dark and heavy
and your technique much slower. _ _ _ _ _ _
I also get quite a number of students who have _ extensive classical training _
_ and think somehow _ _ _ that that doesn't apply to playing the piano.
_ Well, _ there's not jazz technique, there's just technique.
I myself, _ _ after a while of trying to build up my own technique,
studied with Madame Shaloff in Boston for _ a good six years.
_ _ And she straightened my hands out and _ I've been using her technique ever since. _
So _ having a thorough grounding on _ _ classical technique _ _ is really going to be helpful.
And if you haven't ever had _ a classical technique teacher,
there's probably going to be a time in your career where you're going to have to put your jazz studies aside
for a couple of years and spend it with a good technique teacher
to make sure you're using your body in the correct way in order to get the most out of the instrument. _ _ _
_ _ _ One of the _ things I talked about in that article was _ quiet hands. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ What I'm going to do is put a quarter on my hand _ _ and play _ a well-known jazz head that's somewhat of a finger buster.
_ _ _ Maintaining the correct hand position, actually putting the quarter on your hand _ in order to keep it there,
puts you _ automatically in the correct hand position.
It's interesting that this hand position was something I learned _ many years ago
when I was having a particular problem of _ _ sitting at the proper height. _
The proper height for sitting at the piano is your elbow is in line with the keys.
If it's above it, you're going to get upper body weight _ on it.
If it's too low, you're going to get forearm weight on it.
_ The body is made up of _ weights and levers. _
And you have to position the weights and levers in such a way that _ all of your weight doesn't come down
through _ the _ skeletal _ _ structure onto the keyboard. _ _ _
_ When I went to the _ Roosevelt Institute, _ _ _ _ _ which _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ offered therapy for musicians, _ _ _ _ _
they told me the proper hand position was the one you get when you just hang your hand by your side.
_ So, hanging my hand by the side, _ I will put a quarter on _ it _ and _ play without _ _ dropping it.
_ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ [Db] _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ [Ebm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Abm] _ _
[F] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ [Dbm] _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ [E] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [F] _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Db] _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Gb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [Bbm] _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ _
[Cm] _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ [B] _
_ [Abm] _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [Db] _ _
[Abm] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ [Dbm] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ [B] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [A] _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
[Db] _ _ [Cm] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[Gb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ [Abm] _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Dm] _ [Abm] _ _ [G] _
[C] Any _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Abm] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Gb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Db] _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
[Abm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [F] _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ _
[Gm] _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Fm] _ _
[Bm] _ _ [B] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bm] questions?
_ [N] _ _ _ _