Seymour Fink's Mastering Piano Technique: Understanding Basic Technical Movements

Abstract

For many pianists and students, piano technique is regarded as one of most important elements in their constant pursuit of artistic betterment. Since the Romantic era, numerous virtuosic works have been composed; in a similar vein, contemporary composers still entertain the idea of captivating the audience with physically demanding writing. In the meantime, the piano has been developed with heavier hammers and steel strings for a bigger sound and wider register compared to its prototype in the Baroque era. Difficult works coupled with heavier piano tend to create a hotbed of injury, as seen in Schumann, Rachmaninoff and currently Lang Lang. Even though there exists a handful of theories on piano technique advanced by the like of T. Matthay, O. Ortmann and A. Schultz, their theories can be difficult to understand, and even less applicable to piano works for the present day teachers and students. In an email interview with Seymour Fink, he once said “When I taught at Yale in the early 80s none of the technique books readily available suited my needs as a teacher.” Seymour Fink’s book Mastering Piano Technique contains many detailed diagrams and practical explanations. Moreover, a video recording is accompanied with the book to better clarify the contents of the entire book. I would like to introduce this book and apply the technical movements in it to a selection of etudes throughout this research. I hope this dissertation and my own videos (a YouTube link on Appendix) can provide some help for piano students and teachers.