Mémoires d'empreintes à l'écoute de 2 mains vol.2

Brigitte Bouthinon-Dumas, a renowned pianist and teacher, shares her experience on how to improve ones piano playing. After the first volume (Mémoire dempreintes, vol. 1 : lenseignement du piano) which already addressed the issues of instrumental failure and how to overcome it, her thinking has become even clearer and more precise. She seeks to give each person the means to find individual freedom of musical expression in his or her gesture, to soften and renew his or her relationship to the instrument. To do this, the author successively considers the physical, mental and musical elements that determine free and comfortable playing. She also draws on recent knowledge of how the brain works. She concludes with examples taken from the repertoire for which she gives working keys. This book, modest in appearance and dense in content, will delight not only pianists, but also all instrumentalists, whether amateurs or professionals in training, who will find in it many ways to push their limits. Some pages have the tone of the obvious: the author simply returns to the basics of the musicians attitude listening, knowledge of the musical text, attention to the fine bodily sensation and above all, unification of the hands in a coherent whole. Yet, her approach is rare and original in the piano world. The short sentences and brief chapters make this a valuable book of advice that will be consulted often.