About Piano Perceptions
Piano Perceptions™ is a teaching methodology developed by piano pedagogy specialist, Dr. Kathleen Riley that blends psychology, physiology and strategy with the art of piano performance.
"We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words! Feedback is very important in training musicians. Auditory feedback from a MIDI-equipped Yamaha Disklavier™ piano, video recording, and measurements of muscle tension from surface electromyography (sEMG) are incorporated as part of the teaching, allowing me to show pianists their hand and finger positions from my point of view as a teacher -- views they cannot see while playing. Some of my clients have performance-related injuries. These tools provide a very important part of the solution in retraining technique."The Piano Perceptions Method
Video feedback has traditionally been used in athletic training. In terms of piano teaching, it has been effective in training pianists to correct and perfect piano technique. It has also been used to demonstrate the technical intricacies required of pianists in piano performance, providing education and an appreciation of the coordination and skill required in piano playing. The video segments played in slow motion break down each technical movement. Using replay and slow motion, faults in the technique can be pinpointed and corrections made.
Piano Perceptions™ provides professional pianists and piano teachers with the ability to improve a student's performance skills. Detailed analysis of body alignment, muscle tension and sound produced can be gathered for every moment of a piano performance.
MyoVision™ is used in tandem with video for readings of muscle tension through surface electromyography (sEMG). These physical elements are linked to the development of critical listening skills via the Disklavier™ piano, as well as eye-hand coordination in reading music notation via piano roll display. These two other forms of feedback along with video and muscle tension provide an understanding of the art of performance at a level that pianists never thought possible.
In training, I capture video clips of the pianist's hands as they record on the Disklavier. I then replay each technical movement using slow motion. From this evaluation, pianists, as well as other musicians, are able to identify repeated technical corrections. Eventually, through review, they are able to perfect each technical movement.
The pianists I work with have tremendous motivation to make changes in their technique. When I begin using it in a session, many of them say: "Okay, it’s 'brain to hand time!'" The results are amazing. They are able to make technical changes, compare video clips of before and after, and then see differences in muscle tension measurements through sEMG. They can also hear the differences by listening to playback of before and after. They can see and hear the differences in their performances.
About Dr. Kathleen Riley
Kathleen Riley's work opens the door to a significant area of pedagogy at the interface between the scientific study of learning and musical pedagogy. She has incorporated biofeedback (auditory, video recording, movement analysis, and recording of muscle tension) in enhancing the transfer of learning necessary to achieve high-level performance mastery. Read more »
Piano pedagogy
Teaching Interpretive Nuance
© Kathleen Riley 2007Having just returned from an inspiring performance of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto, with Emmanuel Ax weaving magic through the melodies, sending them soaring majestically through the night air, I contemplate how to transmit the understanding of these kinds of experiences into the being of each of my piano students. It is through the playing of an instrument that one truly learns to listen and appreciate music's expressiveness ... Read more »
Technology
The Instrument
A solid grounding in a relaxed, efficient piano technique and confident sight-reading skill are two of the most significant and lasting gifts we can give to our students. But neither will give our students the ability to fully realize the music they are playing without the understanding of how to listen and what to listen for. For this reason, the playback of performances on the Disklavier™ is essential: we must teach our students how to listen and what to listen for. Read more »
Musicians' injuries
Retraining Pianists' Injuries – A Case Study
© Kathleen Riley 2007Performance problems are often very subtle – they often go unnoticed at first and can have several different starting points which, oddly enough, are not in the fingers. We know that stressors such as overuse and incorrect technique can create problems, but often times the starting point is much more elusive, residing in the emotional or mental realm. Read more »
