Aleksander Woronicki YouTube and Web Articles

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Has anyone else come across Aleksander Woronicki on YouTube? I find his videos uniquely focused on the exact motions of the "Motor Apparatus" in great details. Most of his short instructional videos are in this playlist.

I also find this article that makes me read several times and realize what a revelation it is on the real purpose of practice and exercises.

JB_PT

Yes - I found his website several years ago and I think he's got a lot of great info to offer!

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I have been working a LOT with his material. I wasn't ready for it the first time a few years ago / didn't know how to work with it then. What he gives is not formulaic or simplified. In moving at the piano numerous things happen at the same time, some contradictory, but in synergy as a whole.

Recently I worked on the Chopin Ocean etude, for the purpose of healing / building some things. I went for a final 70% tempo, and playing smaller sections so as to build those skills. He has several videos featuring this piece which I worked with. In one, the fingers seem like the wet-noodly look of a squid in motion - this one involving a loose wrist. In another, we have very firm fingers - neither of which should be done literally. He encourages students to experiment. He also stresses that the large motions are exaggerations. When he performs, you don't see those motions but you know they're there.
He is also an amazing pianist, and demonstrates actual performances. He refers to his own former teacher who he holds in high esteem. Neuhaus is also cited a lot.

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This is another side of Aleksander Woronicki - a lot of written work about playing, technique.

https://aw4piano.info/en/

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Ithaca “one of the first pieces of advice given me by professor Woytowicz (educated in the 19th century tradition) was “remember, you must never think when you are playing”!”

I think this explains the cause of a problem I have been having recently - often the first time I play-through a piece (sight-reading) it goes quite a lot better than the subsequent attempts, usually for a week, sometimes more. ....

(edit: I don't know if anything I wrote makes sense) 😃

I read your whole post but I'll only quote part. As said, I worked through W's various things regarding the Ocean etude, and I had worked through some of his material a few years back when I could do less with it. As I understand things from working with this, you're not necessarily playing "the piece" as written during your practice. What you do keeps changing. The Ocean is non-stop broken chords. In one, block chords are played while focusing on movements in the arms, what happens in the shoulder blades. In another, you're doing movement in contrary motion of the broken chords, slowly, not as written, so as to get the flexible wrist in conjunction with the arm ("motor apparatus"). In another, whenever you get to the note that is repeated by pinky then thumb, you keep playing that note while flipping the hand. ...... It's a way different concept of practising and might be hard to get into. Some of what Molly Gebrian says may go in the same direction.

You build. You build those habits so that later on they are there for you (you don't have to think about them) but you have worked methodically toward them.

In another he shows how to build speed. Before that he has also given some ideas on variants of finger action which goes with that. The piece is not staccato, but the playing without pedal, is staccato. At this point he may do 2 measures, add a 3rd. One measure, add a 2nd - building it.

You might get an idea if you look up one piece such as the Ocean, watch every video pertaining to it, so as to see the multiple angles and approaches. The point ofc is not the piece, but the skills to be applied to every piece. When I tried to work with his material in 2015 I didn't "get it", applied things wrongly (I now see it when I go back to what I tried then, seeing the same video but understanding it differently.)

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Ithaca This is what went on under the surface, when I was with my teacher. I often didn't understand why she was having me do certain things, but now I realize she was systematically building up my skills and technique. If only she was still alive, and could take me back again! Such a pity I had to quit.

It sounds like you had a good teacher. I've also been thinking about what you wrote since I read it yesterday. There is what a teacher stresses. In a lesson she may point out a given skill or habit for you to practise while working on the piece: as a student, esp. a young one, you may still end up focusing on the piece. The teacher will be listening and watching next lesson for that skill or "thing" to see whether it's starting to come in: you'll be hoping she thinks you are playing the piece well. When she is especially pleased may mystify you because you're on a different page. You will probably also have absorbed some of those skills without knowing it. That's one angle of it. It's a kind of broad general thing that happens in a lesson.

The other side of it is how we practise. What do we actually do in a period of 7 days, say, from each day to the next. What do we do within that practice time in sessions, or mini-sessions, or several smaller sessions. This part was probably never touched on and it would be a different side.

Ithaca In the video below he (I think) models how to develop a piece by playing it staccatissimo, legato, heavy portato, light portato, etc., before really getting into it. So, I have a vague idea of how the approach is meant to go.

I think he is showing different ways you can play it, so that the student experiments with all or some of those ways. He then shows another angle of approach. I don't think (?) that it's a lesson giving a sequence of do this, then this, then this. Though if he has a particular student, he might indeed have a sequence. But above all, we're not just playing the piece, or sections of the piece - we're doing all kinds of things. Woroniki also stresses experimenting, finding what works with your body.

A while back I shared a video summary I had made, in a PM. There were about 5 different things. I practised those things for just a few passages, to get the feel (esp. since the main structure repeats). When I worked on the various measures later, I went through those 5 or so different things, and sometimes reviewed them. If you do a search within the site for "Ocean etude" you will find about 5 video lessons, plus one performance. Some focus on a concept that was introduced in another one. Some tie a concept to another concept. One involves playing block chords: another involves the individual notes. To get an idea of what he teaches regarding one single piece, this search will show different videos, doing different things. That is part of it too.

At the same time, his videos will be about concepts of movement. So with the example of the Ocean etude, it may crop up in a video about a given concept, along with other pieces. The focus would be on the concept more than on the piece. But he also addresses piece.

(Well, that was clear as mud) 😊