Hands are a Necessary Part of Teaching 1

You want to learn to play piano like Duke Ellington, the famous jazz pianist. How do we do this?

1. I could describe his style to you, and suggest ways to practise to get closer to his sound.

“His style originated in ragtime and the stride piano idiom of James P. Johnson and Willie “The Lion” Smith. He adapted his style for orchestral purposes, accompanying with vivid harmonic colours and, especially in later years, offering swinging solos with angular melodies.”

Then we see how you go. Good luck!

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2. I could play you some of his music. Then, I could describe what you’re hearing and suggest ways to practise to get closer to his sound.

Clearly this is a much better way to learn, because our senses give us information that words cannot.

So it is with Alexander Technique and the kinaesthetic sense.

“Alexander discovered a way of using his hands to give a person new experiences which force him to revise his ideas both of himself and of the universe. Of course a person can reject the experience just as the Professor of Philosophy at Padua rejected Galileo’s hypothesis by refusing to look through the telescope. The important thing is that the experience is now available, thanks to F. M.’s discovery. (Here let me say that I do not mean the discovery he made with the mirror. Others may have done the same thing. I mean the discovery that he could communicate his new experiences to others by using his hands.)”

Frank Pierce Jones
(Taken from Freedom to Change – Appendix D p189)