Playing technique - the sleeping giant

"A compendium of exercises and short etudes or pieces for acquiring elementary technical playing skills", says the foreword by Watchful fingers, watchful earsa work by Bettina Schwedhelm published by Breitkopf Pädagogik in 2013. "Aren't there already enough compilations like this?", many piano teachers will ask themselves. There are certainly many thorough attempts to provide the true way of teaching technically sound piano playing. However, it seems to me that there are Watchful fingers, watchful ears could succeed in waking up the sometimes dormant giant of "playing technique" and introducing it to our lower and middle school pupils in an appealing and understandable way.

The work is divided into three parts: two student booklets and a teacher's commentary with a DVD showing the essential aspects of piano technique. I strongly recommend that you take a close look at the excellent teacher's commentary, because if you only look at the exercises and pieces, you will only see the tip of the iceberg. In the preface and in the explanations of the examples in the student booklets, the author repeatedly emphasizes the importance of working on a fundamental level and the associated training of perception. A universally applicable vocabulary of basic pianistic playing forms is to be developed in close connection with the conception of sound and the execution of movement, parallel to the piano school or other playing literature. Bettina Schwedhelm sees the presented practice material as raw material that should be individually adapted to the physical, mental and emotional abilities of the children. The mostly very short etudes, exercises and pieces are each limited to one essential aspect. A double sheet enclosed with each pupil's booklet shows further possibilities for rewarding work with variations, which is intended to avoid merely mechanical practising. There is a detailed methodological and didactic commentary and the helpful DVD for all the examples in the student booklets.

The careful selection of examples, the appealing graphic presentation, together with the extremely valuable comments and the enormous practical relevance, make this work an enrichment to the existing range.

Bettina Schwedhelm: Wache Finger, wache Ohren. Playing and practice material for elementary piano technique; booklet 1, EB 8821, € 16.00; booklet 2, EB 8822, € 16.00; teacher's commentary with DVD, BV 476, € 28.00; Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2013