piano
I started playing piano when I was nine years old. Considering that I grew up in a somewhat remote location, Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was lucky to have wonderful teachers, including Mimi Tung and Evelyne Brancart. Later, when I moved to Boston, I was fortunate to be able to study with the brilliant Hung-Kuan Chen. These teachers, along with teaching me technique and phrasing and coloring and all that good stuff, were all great at teaching me how to practice. This is something that I try to pass on to my students. Repetition is necessary in practice, but repetition without thought can harm, rather than benefit, a musician's progress. Building self-awareness and problem-solving skills in a student are important.
I also like to remind my students (and myself!) every once in a while to enjoy the music that they're making. I try as often as I can not to have them trudge through pieces that they don't like, although it's not always avoidable.
playing with the alexander technique
My teachers were wonderful technicians. Because of this, I learned to use my arms and fingers pretty well. Unfortunately, the arms and fingers are attached to, and therefore affected by, the rest of the body; this is where the Alexander Technique comes in handy.
After I got a degree in Piano Performance, I went into accompanying, now called Collaborative Piano. It turned out that I really enjoyed vocal accompanying, as I liked the poetry and stories of the art songs and arias. However, when I started accompanying a lot, my technique started breaking down. When you accompany, many times you are no longer focusing on yourself and your playing -- you're focusing on whomever it is you're accompanying. It was during this time that I got injured, and my injury wouldn't heal until I started learning and applying the Alexander Technique.
I have found the Alexander Technique to be of great value in my piano technique. All the great things that my piano teachers taught me make more sense and come more easily when applied with Alexander. I also like the principles of Dorothy Taubman, who is a New York pedagogue who bases her piano technique on the anatomy of the human body. (I am not a certified Taubman teacher.) Taubman's technique lines up almost exactly with the Alexander Technique. The Alexander Technique allowed me to play after my injury, and I can now play for a 6 or 7-hour rehearsal without fear of hurting myself.
Copyright © 2009 Minsun Park
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